I come to you with a heavy heart and a tear stained face…
For the past several days I’ve been sitting half way across the world watching and hearing all that is happening back home and I can’t help but cry. Not just cry but ball my eyes out.
I knew what was to come but I didn’t realize the severity of it all. I didn’t understand that Harvey was about to ruin the one place I love most in the world.
What I knew…
there was a hurricane coming for my sweet city,
there would be heavy rainfall that wouldn’t stop,
heavy winds that would blow through,
there would be empty stores left from cautious people.
I knew there would be brokenness in the city but I didn’t know that it would take everything in it’s path…
Living in Texas, especially south Texas, you know that hurricanes are a given but you also learn that most of the time its all bark and no bite. You prepare but don’t actually brace for impact.
But some, some arrive in full force, seeking vengeance and destruction on everyone and everything. No one is kept safe or marked as untouchable territory.
Harvey didn’t see race.
He didn’t see skin color.
He didn’t see your finances.
He didn’t check to see if you were a good person or not.
Truth is he didn’t care. He saw what was in his way and he came in and took it, not once looking back, nor considering leaving it the way he found it.
This world looks at the outside of man more often than it should. When in reality no one is safe from the destruction of life.
Tragedy doesn’t pick it’s prey based on what you look like or how much money you have.
Your heart beats, tragedy is at your doorstep.
You breathe, tragedy is at your doorstep.
You move, you speak, you live, tragedy will be at your doorstep.
There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than Houston, Texas right now.
It’s where my people are.
It’s where my home is.
It’s one of the rare places left on Earth that shows you what helping your fellow neighbor genuinely looks like.
Houston is giving people across the global a glimpse into hope, into a kinder future where people no longer look at the outward appearance of a man but simply reach out a tender hand because it’s the right thing to do, no strings attached.
How we react in a crisis defines who we are at the core of our being.
Today Houston has defined who they are and what they stand for;
love, hope and undeniable strength.
So thank you Harvey, you made my Houston breathtakingly beautiful.
