Saturday night Southwest Oklahoma flooded. People evacuated from low-lying areas, water over the roads, at least a half-dozen people drowned. Here in our area a number of people are now homeless.

Yesterday evening I was working in the yard when I received a phone call from the police asking me to meet with the Red Cross. I went to the police station then was directed to the community center where a shelter would be set up. We had a quick meeting with the Red Cross team, determined what needed to be done to set up the shelter, then got to it. (I don't know why I was the only minister there; though I can imagine that given my parishioners I deal with the police more than most pastors in town, so mine may have been the first name thought of.) The call was put out for the volunteer fire department and we proceeded to sweep floors, unload the Red Cross trailer, and then set up cots, etc. By the time I left the first family was being checked into the shelter.

I am a small-government citizen. That is, I want my governments, federal and state, to be as small and inexpensive as possible. But, there is a corollary to this position. I must, therefore, be an active citizen giving of my time and treasure to ensure that needs are met on the local level. No true conservative can stand around and say, "Why don't they do something?" We want less "they." So we must be willing to pitch in ourselves. See this earlier post.