"Baptists bring buzz" was the headline in today's The News-Enterprise, the newspaper in Radcliff, Kentucky where we worked. You can read the entire article at http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/cgi-bin/c2.cgi?053+article+News.Local+2009021016120053003.

When our Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief team arrived in Radcliff, Kentucky on February 8, most of the ice had melted, but the tree damage was everywhere. Electricity had been restored, but lots of people, especially senior adults, had a mess that they could not clean up themselves and could not afford to clean up. That's where our "Rescue and Recovery" unit helped them. It was hard work, but very gratifying, and at every home we prayed with the homeowners and talked to them about the Lord. We discovered several people who had no church but were open to a visit from a local church, and we passed that on to the local Baptist association. Most of all, we gave people hope. How appropriate that after we finished one of our jobs, a beautiful rainbow came out!

One widow that we helped in Radcliff was Mrs. K. She broke her arm trying to clean up her yard after the ice storm. A tree in her yard split open from the weight of the ice, and the part that remained standing was leaning toward her house.
She had tried to get the insurance company to get it off her property, but everybody was busy. We did not have the equipment to cut down her tree, but we cleaned debris from the driveway, and she moved her vehicles to the clean driveway. We prayed for her to get some more help.
I found out that she is a Sunday School teacher at a Presbyterian church. I gave her a New Testament with devotionals in the front, and a Rick Warren CD and a gospel tract. She was excited to get the materials, saying she would use it to teach and encourage others.
After we left, she called our operations center to say that 30 minutes after our prayer, a man came who was able to cut down that tree so it would not fall on her house. She was praising the Lord for answering our prayers.

While we were cleaning a yard, a man drove up and asked me, "What organization are you with?" I said, "We're Christians doing this as a ministry. We're with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief." He said, "I'm on social security and I've tried to get my place cleaned up, but I can't afford what people charge. How much do you charge?" I said, "Sir, we don't take payment. We do this for free." He was amazed. "For FREE?" he asked. "Yes," I said, "It's like God's grace. You can't earn it; you have to receive it by faith. Do you have a local church that you attend?" I handed him a gospel tract. He said, "Yes, I'll be there this Sunday." I then explained that he could go to the fire station and fill out an application for assistance from us. When I got back to the fire station for lunch, he was there filling out the application.
I cannot count how many times I had the opportunity to explain grace to people when they were surprised that we take no payment and we do this as a ministry. What a wonderful testimony.

You can see pictures from Kentucky on my blog at www.brotherbobsblog.blogspot.com.