In September 2008, Hurricane Ike delivered tragedy, debris, suffering, and loss to the Gulf Coast region of the United States. But the delivery also included blessings . . . by the truckload!

At Abiding Word in Houston, we were keenly aware of our being spared much of what was delivered to others. When the winds and rain finally let up, our church family started pulling together to make contacts with members, share meals, and help with clean-up and repairs.

“Did you have major damage? Do you need help?”

“Do you have electricity yet? Ours came on yesterday. Would you like to use my generator? Can you use some ice?”

Our congregational president, Juan Garcia, said he and his wife could use just one bag of ice. They were fine, keeping some cheese and milk in a cooler. One bag was enough.

Then we received a call from Pastor Tim Soukop from Our Savior in San Antonio. One of his members worked for a regional grocery outlet and could set up an ice distribution center at any location in the Houston area. The only requirement was to provide manpower to offload the ice. It seemed like a great opportunity to reach out into the community since so many were still without power. Abiding Word’s pastor, Steve Valleskey, called Juan to see if this could be coordinated. Juan was glad to reach out into the community like this. He had no other thoughts but to do it.

The next day we had a new visual image of God’s grace—a semi-trailer truckload of 4,000 bags of ice (20 tons!) parked on our church property. There to offload the first of many bags of ice and to manage the day’s activity was Juan Garcia.

So many neighbors were so thankful and replied with expressions of faith in their Savior and heartfelt thank-yous to us and the grocer. They came in vehicles hardly able to make it through the parking lot, and they came in Jaguars and Mercedes. The need for ice was a great leveler that day.

In the midst of all this, one visual image made a lasting impression on us: Juan had asked for just one bag of ice.

What an amazing picture of God’s grace beyond what we could have imagined—a picture of God’s grace by the truckload!