Prayer Brings Comfort To Texas Coast

With Places of Worship Damaged, Makeshift Observances Bring Sense Of Normalcy To Communities Battered By Ike

(AP)  Wearing jeans and rubber boots, clutching Bibles and weeping between hymns, residents of the storm-shattered Texas coast comforted each other Sunday at makeshift church services that provided more than a respite from the Hurricane Ike cleanup.

About 50 people came together on a basketball court outside the Oak Island Baptist Church, just south of Interstate 10 about a mile from the tip of Trinity Bay. They sat on folding chairs or simply stood, forced outdoors by the 1-inch layer of mud left inside the single-story red brick building by floodwaters that tossed pews like matchsticks.

A demolished mobile home was still lodged among trees, many of them snapped by the storm's 110-mph winds that somehow left the church's trio of 20-foot white crosses still standing. Across the street, piles of debris had sprouted, proof of the labor undertaken since the storm blew through last weekend and of the work yet to come.

"I know it's hard. Looking around, it's tough," the Rev. Eddie Shauberger told the congregants. "But there is a God, and he has a plan for our lives."

Similar services were being held on Galveston Island and throughout the Houston area, where power had been restored to enough residents that schools planned to hold classes Monday for the first time since the storm.

In Galveston, Bobby and Pamela Quiroga sought succor at a Mass set up in the historic Hotel Galvez. They went to their Roman Catholic church a week ago, the day after the storm arrived, but it was closed.

"It's just good to be around people," Bobby Quiroga said. He added, letting his voice trail off, "When you feel a wave shake your house ...."

The newly married 42-year-olds were still trying to gather their senses eight days after watching their homes and businesses flooded by Ike's 12-foot surge.

Pamela Quiroga dabbed her swollen eyes with a hand towel and vowed never to live on the island again.

"When I fall asleep," she said, "I see the water rising."

Observances in the hardest-hit spots were not overflowing with residents. Most of Galveston won't reopen until Wednesday, and it could be weeks or more before basic services are restored in all areas.

Still, the island is far from deserted - at least 15,000 people ignored mandatory evacuation orders before and after the storm, and many of them were still there Sunday. Some businesses were beginning to reopen, cell phone service was improving and electricity was coming back on.

(Left: A teddy bear sits among the rubble of a home a week after it was ravaged by Hurricane Ike in Seabrook, Texas, Sept. 20, 2008.)

But the strides are small, and island leaders emphasized that Galveston remained dangerous. Fuel and other essentials remained scarce. Police will indefinitely enforce a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew once the island reopens, and parents were warned their children could be exposed to infections from storm debris and other hazards.

Planes continued spraying the island to control mosquitoes. Officials urged those returning to wear masks to protect from mold and to properly dispose of spoiled food to stave off vermin.

Cadaver dogs continued sniffing through rubble and debris on Bolivar Peninsula, which suffered even heavier damage than Galveston. Residents there will be loaded into dump trucks and other heavy vehicles this week to examine their homes, since the main road is impassible in many spots.

Authorities had blamed the storm for 26 deaths in Texas and 61 total in the U.S., including a utility contractor from Florida who was electrocuted Friday while trying to restore power in Louisville, Kentucky.

(From left, Lazaro Sanchez, Gustavo Gallardo and Manuel Santana fix a leaking gas line among the rubble of a hurricane-ravaged neighborhood in Seabrook, Texas, Sept. 20, 2008.)

Power had been restored to most of the customers in Texas whose electricity was cut by Ike, though the state said about 875,000 remained in the dark Sunday.

More than 1 million people evacuated the Texas coast as Ike steamed across the Gulf of Mexico.

[robhoutx]

You know what would bring comfort to those of us on the Gulf Coast effected by Ike? ELECTRICITY. Fix the power lines! This is going on Day 9. While the mayor and the rep from CenterPoint and that moron Sheila Jackson Lee are all on TV and radio patting each other on the back for doing what elected leaders and our utilities should be doing anyway, much of Houston is still without electric. CenterPoint has to be the most ill-prepared, dumbest utility in the country. While other utilities in hurricane zones routinely and pro-actively trim their trees in order to avoid entanglement of power lines in the trees in case of a storm, this becomes an afterthought for CenterPoint and is a large part of the reason why so many people in our city still dont have power. So, let''s talk about comfort once I can sit at my computer in my own home with some AC on.

[toby2957]

"With Places of Worship Damaged, Makeshift Observances Bring Sense Of Normalcy To Communities Battered By Ike"

Worshipping imaginary beings in the sky instead of actually doing something useful. uh-huh sense of normacy my arse.

[cdfoxtrot3]

It''s whackos like this that give us Bush, Palin, etc.

These are the kinds of people who ridicule science, Darwinism, climate change, you name it.

[republic1776]

I thought "comfort" was provided by FEMA and our US tax dollars....
Silly me and silly founding Fathers for putting that dirty God word in the Constitution
Liberal''s criticize, but they want hand outs.
Liberal''s suck!

[republic1776]

cdfoxtrot3,
It''s your Great Grand parents that gave us Hitler, Stalin.
You are a communist!

[republic1776]

cdfoxtrot3,
You have no God!
I will tell you liberal, YOU are NOT God!

[barbaram99]

Get help down there. They need it. I don''t have A/C. They need the basics. Clean the mess up, for their safety.

[feddupp]

WOW--toby and foxtrot, I''m SO GLAD I won''t be in your shoes when you meet GOD in person! (And you WILL someday!)

Since WHEN do you think people who believe in God (and the Bible as his holy Word) don''t believe in SCIENCE??? Many of the scientific ideas people of old GOT were FROM the BIBLE!!

And archaeological digs are PROVING the Bible TRUE right and left over in the Middle East and beyond!

The one unpardonable sin is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (i.e.not to believe in God and accept Jesus).

[rushlimbaug4]

cdfoxtrot3,
You have no God!
I will tell you liberal, YOU are NOT God!

Posted by republic1776 at 07:42 PM : Sep 21, 2008

It is pretty obvious that GOD is punishing Galveston. This is not about Climate Change and 100 year weather events coming every couple months, this is about GODS WRATH FOR NOT PRAYING ENOUGH!!@@!

I CAN I get an Amen Dittohead?!@@!!

[rushlimbaug4]

Since WHEN do you think people who believe in God (and the Bible as his holy Word) don''''t believe in SCIENCE??? Many of the scientific ideas people of old GOT were FROM the BIBLE!!

Posted by feddupp at 08:49 PM : Sep 21, 2008

yes! YES! there is all sorts of science in the Bible! It should replace science books in liberal destroyed public schools!! At least these folks in Texas will get a chance to home school there kids since there schools have been torn down by the mighty HAND OF GOD!!@! It must be all part of GODS PLAN!!@!

LIBZ!!! REZKO!! SOROS!!! LIBZ!!!

[cyberdjs4]

Prayer is pointless!

Prayer is not going to get your house back.
Only hard work will accomplish that.

I get "comfort" from doing the work and enjoying the fruits of my labor.

[republic1776]

RushLimbaug4,
You are why I support fredoms of Guns!
Maybe you will put one to your head, when you realize what a looser you are!

" is pretty obvious that GOD is punishing Galveston. This is not about Climate Change and 100 year weather events coming every couple months, this is about GODS WRATH FOR NOT PRAYING ENOUGH!!@@!"

[republic1776]

"It is pretty obvious that GOD is punishing Galveston. This is not about Climate Change and 100 year weather events coming every couple months, this is about GODS WRATH FOR NOT PRAYING ENOUGH!!@@!"

RushLimbaug4 ,
Pray to your looser Al Gore!
Abortd babies.
Let Murderers out of Prisons...
Raise our taxes beacuse your assinine belieifs.
People that believe in God, pay their churches.
Liberal''s expect that we should all pay taxes, for what THEY believe!
ARSEwipe!

[fabrat1]

yes! YES! there is all sorts of science in the Bible! It should replace science books in liberal destroyed public schools!! At least these folks in Texas will get a chance to home school there kids since there schools have been torn down by the mighty HAND OF GOD!!@! It must be all part of GODS PLAN!!@!

LIBZ!!! REZKO!! SOROS!!! LIBZ!!!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by RushLimbaug4 at 08:55 PM : Sep 21, 2008

LOL hahaha I can''t help but laugh at you... thanks for the laugh and oh by the way it''s their not there.

[williejammer]

Hello,
This is Willie. I''m sending friends your new stories.
This is a neat website.
Have a good week.
Willie Jammer

[jumkey]

Since WHEN do you think people who believe in God (and the Bible as his holy Word) don''''t believe in SCIENCE???

Posted by feddupp

Since forever. Science and religion are incompatible. Science is about proof, religion is about belief. These are opposite ends of the spectrum.

You clearly know nothing about science so you probably shouldn''t be commenting on it. Your religion calls what you have done in your comment "bearing false witness".

Why must I explain this to you?

[cdfoxtrot3]

If people consider it silly or ridiculous to love a dog or a cat, then how ridiculous is it to kneel and pray to the clouds, when your house and home have been destroyed??

There may be a God and/or an afterlife. I guess we''ll find out eventually. But it''s a little hard for me to accept that what these people are doing is going to help their current situation.

[truthislife1]

It seems that many of the people who claim the Bible has no science have not read it or understand it.

[truthislife1]

Our little scientific brains are still trying to catch up with the science of the Bible.

[votefreedom]

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."
For people who''ve fallen for the lies of evolution, check out freehovind.com/watch

[rheola-2009]

And archaeological digs are PROVING the Bible TRUE right and left over in the Middle East and beyond!


Posted by feddupp at 08:49 PM : Sep 21, 2008

Dependant upon the interpretation of the finds, it could be said more so, that those digs are certainly proving otherwise.

eg, Sodom and Gomorrah, the result of an earthquake, and resultant fires caused by leaking natural gases etc. along a fault line that included at least three other towns/cities.
There are many more such examples, where is your proof, archealogical or otherwise of the great flood, this should be the easiest for you to provide proof of, if in fact it ever happened. [where did Noah get the Kangaroo''s from}.

[cdfoxtrot3]

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."
For people who''''ve fallen for the lies of evolution, check out freehovind.com/watch

Posted by votefreedom

"The lies of evolution". LOL

I suppose the earth is flat, too? And the sun revolves around the earth? And the earth is 5,000 years old?

[usapride70]

I can''t believe some of you are on here complaining about people praying. You are the people that are intolerant. Even though this doesn''t involve you, isn''t being shoved down your throat you still can''t tolerate that someone believes other than you do. You get angry at the fact that people actually believe in something that you don''t. You call them fools. How dare you! You don''t want someone shoving their faith and beliefs down your throat then let go of your intolerance and stop shoving your unbelieving down everyone elses throats!

[pirmin3]

Thumpin'' your bible honey ain''t gonna fix your house.

[matter77]

I knew a guy once who believed life on Earth originated spontaneously, just out of the muck. I said such a thing has never been observed to happen before, and cannot be made to happen in a laboratory. He barely made it through High School and wasn''t particularly bright. He thought everyone else was dumb, but couldn''t answer the simplest questions about Science, or Math. And then he died. And no one cared. No one cared what he thought or what his opinions about anything were, because they DIDN''T matter. They lowered his body into the ground where it is now rotting in a box. The same thing will happen to you. You can spew all the Evolution this and Evolution that all you want. No one cares what you think. And then you will die. And then your body will return to the dust and in a few years no one will think of you anymore. You will be forgotten, along with all your opinions and ideas and hatred and ignorance.

[scallywag8]

Well, if we were crated in Gods image, he didn''t do a very good job.

[legacyabq]

"And archaeological digs are PROVING the Bible TRUE right and left over in the Middle East and beyond!"
--feddup
Yeah? SO?
Whatareya talkin about??
No one denies that the bible has historical events in it. So do lots of other books
What''s yer point??
Just because history EXISTS doesn''t make interpretations of events any more valid.
Case in point:
The egyptian pyramids exist.. Archaeology proves they exist! Therefore, THEY were built by aliens, man!
That''s REAL logical.
Just because there was a historic basis to events in the bible, this has nothing to do with belief in unseen, supernatural beings!
Why do people hijack archaeology as "proof" of something when it''s only proof that it found old stuff. Yeah. Guess what, there was a historic middle east, and jesus was a real person.
SO WHAT.
That don''t mean there''s an invisible sky-god, nor does it mean there''s an easter bunny just because we find fossils of rabbits!
Anyway, I feel bad for these people, regardless of their silly beliefs..

[excoachken]

Prayer is an "onyimate moment" between you and your God. Praying in public is an exclusionary, manipulative and bullying act meant to intimidate others into joining your particular belief system. These same people, who think their "theatrical displays" of such a personal and emotional moment of connection would be profoundly offended if two lovers were to publicly show their deepest feelings in public, either verbally or phsically. As a Christian, on occassion of serious personal concern, I pray too. But, it is a private matter and not done in the same way that you might "scalp" tickets on the street corner. I do not feel obliged to put on a show for others or "sell them" on an idea, just communicate my feelings to a higher power. Does every part of modern life have to be a "scripted" and "attention getting" moment in order to have value?

[excoachken]

Ezcuse the typo, please I meant "intimate moment."

[xlib]

excoachkjen-so, based on your OPINION, if a large group of people choose to pray in that "intimate moment" and someone like you passes by and is offended they should be stopped?? How very elitist.
Guess you don''t like outdoor churches and such.
So, what''s your OPINION on a muslim pulling out his prayer rug?? That ok?? Having lived in Morocco for three years I know for a fact that at certain times during the day, no matter what, inside, outside whatever, the prayer rug comes out and they pray.
You sure are a small minded person.

[xlib]

adt14-why are you so offended by this?? If anyone is frightened you sure sound it.

[xlib]

Are you faith slammers messiah supporters?? He sure enjoyed his church services with the rev wright holding the bible, spewing hate speech, God da*ing America. Yea, that''s religion you can believe in.
jeff607-Wow, smart Palin slam there fella. So, I guess you never heard your messiah speak. I understand people would faint dead away.
This piece really brought the true libs.
Say, rush baby, what were the lies about rezko and soros?? How about ayers, dorn and wright.

[excoachken]

Xlib: Anyone who makes a specticle of their religion (whatever that belief system is)in a public arena is just as inconsiderate. It is simply bad manners and bullying. So, I guess we differ. Would you not be bother by a Devil worshipper doing an animal sacrifice in your town park? I feel that "intimate expressions" should be private, because they force people to "choose sides" when all perspectives should be tolerated. I will not interfer with their prayer, but then if a couple, of any sexual orientation wishes to "be affectionate" in a public place, it would not bother you. Right?

[usapride70]

Posted by excoachken at 07:41 AM : Sep 22, 2008

because they force people to "choose sides"



How is that forcing you to choose sides? Praying in public or anywhere else is a plain and simple freedom and human right and you are the intolerant one. It is nothing but fear in you and quite frankly in my opinion and beliefs it is only Satan trying to make sure he has one more to take with him. You are the intolerant ones. If you don''t want to pray then don''t but who are you to say someone else shouldn''t, public or not. Last I heard this was a free country.