“IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!”
The Jewish itinerant preacher John the Baptist,
who according to the New Testament (KJV) was a relative of Jesus the Christ,
told his listeners many important things. One of his outstanding teachings was about
caring for one another. He taught that a person who, for example, had two coats
should give one to the person who did not have one. In the same way, he said,
someone who had food should share with the person who had no food.
The scripture came to my mind as I read a portion of an
article “Texas is frozen and in Crisis” written by Cathy Free in
The Washington Post, February 18, 2021.
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At one point in the article, she wrote that someone said:
“I saw some cops putting a sheet over a homeless guy who had frozen to death.
That really got me. I decided then that I’d open the stores to everyone if it
got really bad, and it did.”
The person who said those words is 70 year old Jim McIngvale, the owner of Gallery Furniture
Stores in Houston, Texas.
“A deadly winter storm that has left more than 3 million
Texans without power and running water in record-setting freezing temperatures,
made him turn his expansive showrooms into life-saving shelters.”
The Texas winter storm brought 44 hours of freezing temperatures,
caused 69 deaths and $18 billion in damage -Alex Meier – wrote for abc
13 Eyewitness news Feb 21, 2021. “Images from Texas gave the world a
glimpse of the historic impact and devastation from this week’s winter storm.”
“The logistics are a little hard, but we’re making it
work,” McIngvale said. “The people are shell-shocked. They’ve been home
for days in the cold with no electricity, no heat, no water, no plumbing.”
Now, he says, anyone is welcome to use the beds and sofas
in the showroom and perhaps watch television or have a hot meal. Each night about
350 people have come in to sleep at two of his three stores. Each day some 800
have come in “to warm up” or for a cup of coffee or something to eat.
McIngvale brought in portable toilets and rigged a
special flush system in the restrooms with extra water, Cathey Free’s
article said. He has even paid food vendors to bring in tacos and other snacks.
“To whom much has been given, much is expected. We’ve benefited
from public support over the years so it’s our obligation to open our doors and
let people come in to get a respite from the storm. It’s the right thing to do,”
he said.
Yes! Indeed, it is.
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