The Cross that Weathered the Hurricane

 Late Sunday afternoon when we visited the site of missionary Cecil Kemp's destroyed church and parsonage, we found this scene across the road.

 As we understood it, Cecil had built this concrete lighthouse himself, but as you can see, the top blew off in the hurricane.

Boys will be boys, and they promptly set about finding a way up to the second story that had a deck, 

from which they climbed the ladder all the way to the top.

Not to be outdone by her brothers and cousins, Carrie climbed up, too!

Meanwhile, we noticed that there were still a few things that had remained intact through the storm--

conch shells that had been set in concrete and stone surrounding a flower garden.
And a few others, too.

And there was the cross.
Still standing.

"The cross it standeth fast,
Defying every blast.
Hallelujah for the cross!"

Even the lighthouse lost its top.

as it stood on the rugged cliff above the ocean.
Hard to believe flood water swirled around this lighthouse and down over the cliff in that terrible hurricane.

The boys and Jonathan made their way down somehow...

to the rocks and waves below.

Around us, the sky darkened that evening, and around us the world was dark.

When our taxi driver in Nassau found out we were heading to Freeport to roof a church, he asked what kind of church it was and what they believed. Our answer led to him quickly letting us know that he did not believe in the cross like we did. He believed it was a log, not a cross with Jesus' arms outstretched. He also did not believe Jesus was God. Jesus was the son of God, he said, but not God Almighty,

He was a well indoctrinated Jehovah's Witness, and he proceeded, as he whizzed around bends and darted in and out of traffic, to tell us why Jesus is not God. He pulled Scripture after Scripture out, even quoting the references, to prove his point. 

We could hardly get a word in edgewise, but I tried to ask questions and use Scriptures to make him think.

His questions made my children do some searching of the Scriptures to find out why we believe Jesus is not just the Son of God, but is God Himself.
How appropriate then when Stefan Paulus chose for his message Sunday morning in church

the theme "The Foolishness and the Power of the Cross."

To the world, the cross is foolish.
To us, it is the power of God.

Right during the hurricane, a man named Robert came to the cross to be saved!

While there, we heard about how the Kemp family was trying to escape the flood water by climbing to their attic. 

It was then that the roof blew off! 

Now the Kemps had to escape back down into their first level. Fearing that the particle board kitchen cupboards would disintegrate under them, Cecil had his wife on the kitchen stove. I  believe there were about five feet of water in the house.

Then Cecil heard yelling outside, and went out to find a neighbor, Ronald, clinging to a tree.

Cecil headed out to try to help rescue the man, who jumped, but missed Cecil. 

Ronald went under and disappeared. 

Cecil, a strong, athletic man and a good swimmer, dove once but was unsuccessful. 

He dove again, and managed to snag something on the man, and dragged him to safety.

But while clinging to that tree, that man Robert had bowed at the cross and given his heart to Jesus.
The church was destroyed.
The top of the lighthouse blew down.
Robert almost lost his life.

But the cross still stood, reminding us all that Jesus still saves today.
He still saves, even right in the middle of Hurricane Dorian.
Robert meant what he said when he surrendered his life to the Lord, and has since been baptized.
Hallelujah for the cross!