Deep in the (COLD) heart of Texas!
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us regarding the severe winter weather storms affecting Texas. We appreciate your prayers, and we continue to need them.
It is always a strange thing when the issues we work so hard to address every day in the developing world become a reality at home. It reminds us that humans are humans and we are really all the same. All that really separates us is where God thought we should be born. Sometimes we are the ones to respond to needs, and sometimes we are the ones in need. We need each other!
WHAT'S HAPPENING
I've lived in either South or Central Texas my entire life, and there has never been a situation like this. Texas is home to just under 30 million people who live in 254 different counties across the state. NEVER before has every county been under a severe winter weather situation at the same time. Not only were we hit at the same time, but this is a prolonged situation. We are now on day 4.
The bottom line is our infrastructure was not built for this, and the increased demand is more than what our power providers can accommodate. Unlike the developing world, we are not accustomed to this kind of disruption. In Africa and Central America, I've been without power or water for days at a time, and it doesn't really slow things down. In Texas, it shuts us down. To make matters worse, we only see snow and ice on rare occasions - maybe once a year here in the south of Texas - and that is usually for one quick burst. So, over the course of multiple days, our roads are not accessible like they are in the north of our country because we don't have snow plows or an abundance of de-icing supplies.
Over 3 million people have been without power, and over 12 million people have compromised water sources. We lost power Sunday night for 30 hours, got it back for 22 hours, lost it for 21 more hours, and have had it back for another 12. It is likely we will lose it again tonight, but nobody knows. Millions have been without electricity for 3-4 days now. So far, almost 30 people have died due to this storm.
Many Grocery stores are running on auxiliary power with almost nothing left on their shelves. The roads mostly cleared yesterday with some warmer temperatures (in Houston), but we have another hard freeze coming tonight following another day of rain. Many people's pipes are bursting and creating significant water damage to their homes, churches and/or businesses. It's a mess. To add to the challenge yesterday, our area had no cell service.
For the most part, it's been a huge inconvenience. Life has been locked-down to a higher level, and we've stayed at home bundled up to sleep by our fireplace (which many people in Houston don't have) as our house has fallen to temperatures as low as the upper 40's (but most of the time it's been 50's or 60's).
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS
We greatly appreciate your prayers during this time.
Please pray for the millions without power and/or water - especially the elderly and vulnerable.
Please pray for our nation - as people's lives are on the line, many politicians and celebrities are weighing in with opinions that just simply aren't helpful as they try to affix blame to a party instead of what it was - a once-in-a-lifetime weather system event. The planning could have been better, but let's just try and get stronger and better.
Pray for the Church - that the needs of our communities would intersect with Kingdom people ready to respond.
Please pray for the small businesses - many that have been on the verge of closing due to Covid have now lost another week of income.
Please remember that around 1 billion people in our world live without access to electricity, and about 1/3 of our world doesn't have access to clean water. As rough as it's been for a week in Texas, this is the reality for billions of people around the world every day and has been for generations. Please pray that we at Links would continue to have favor and wisdom as we serve those in severe need every day.
We are very much looking forward to being on the other side of this, and we appreciate your prayers and support as always. We are also a bit behind on emails as our service has been interrupted. We are working hard to get caught up! Please let us know if you need anything or if you would like to be connected with a way to help in different parts of Texas.
For the Kingdom,
Jason Bollinger
Links CEO/President