In September Steve Tegarden of Frankfort, Ind., watched news clips about the four–year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it caused in the New Orleans area. Those stories brought back memories of the two weeks he served there in September 2005, right after the storm.
Steve worked a Salvation Army canteen serving 1,200–1,400 meals a day at each of two stops. One particular day is forever etched in his memory.
“The heat was brutal that day—102 degrees. We completely ran out of water and ice.
“We considered going back to the compound where the food was prepared. They had truckloads of ice there, but it would take 40 minutes. That’s a lot of wasted time, so we decided to press ahead and pray that God would provide water and ice.”
As they pulled onto the interstate, an answer came to one of their prayers: a Red Cross unit. They provided water, but the Salvation Army crew continued praying for ice.
“We headed on down the interstate toward our next stop,” says Steve. “Suddenly I had to slam on the brakes to avoid an obstruction in the middle of the roadway. I jumped out of the vehicle to see what it was.”
Another worker on the canteen says, “The next thing I knew, blocks of ice in plastic bags started flying in through the door, so I scrambled to put it into ice chests in the back. Then Steve jumped back into the vehicle and we took off. In all, there were probably 18 or 20 blocks of ice.”
“We don’t have a clue where that ice came from,” said Steve. “It wasn’t melted at all, so it couldn’t have been there very long in that heat. It didn’t look like any other vehicles had run over it, and we didn’t see a truck or any other vehicle in front of us that could have dropped it. All we know is that God answered our prayers. He provided what we needed.”
The next day Steve’s canteen stopped in a neighborhood where 30 or 40 people congregated on the side of the street.
“One young woman, probably in her mid–20s, came up to the truck,” says Steve. “As we served her the food, she looked like she was high on drugs.”
At that exact moment, Steve’s phone rang. It was a doctor who was in the same neighborhood. “Could I meet up with you and ride around on the canteen? Maybe I can help some people,” he said.
“Sure,” said Steve.
When the doctor arrived, Steve said, “You need to check on that young girl over there. I think she has a drug or chemical problem.”
The doctor checked her out and discovered she was a dialysis patient going into shock. An ambulance was called immediately. Without the doctor’s help at that moment, the girl would no doubt have died.
Steve says, “Sometimes God uses us to answer prayers that we don’t even know are going up.”
God also answered prayers through ordinary people who offered very practical help. Steve recalls, “Another Salvation Army worker told me that a woman rolled down her car window as she passed by and said, ‘I have disposable diapers. Do you have anyone who needs them?’ ”
“No,” he said, “we don’t need them here.”
A van immediately behind that car pulled up. A woman pleaded: “We’re desperate for disposable diapers. Do you have any?”
“Stop that car in front of you!” the worker shouted. “They have diapers to give away!”
Steve says, “All you saw on the news was the ugly stuff happening in New Orleans, but we saw a lot of good things happening too. When praying people get together to do God’s work, you witness many miracles of His provision.”
Diane Pearson is a Christian writer, speaker and teacher from Frankfort, Ind.
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