OP_110917

6 | November 9, 2017 | The orland park prairie News
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northeast of Houston, he did
not have a concrete plan. His
initial objective was to assess
the situation and distribute 20
cases of water to anyone who
might need it.
“That’s the way this stuff
happens a lot is I have to do
an on-the-ground assessment
and figure it out as I go,” Lee
explained. “I always bring
something people might need,
and bottled water is usually a
pretty good starting point.”
Beaumont is 16 feet above
sea level, and by the time
Lee arrived the floodwaters
had receded from most of the
city; however, he had to literally
drive through water to
get into Beaumont. The reality
of just how much water
was astounding to Lee — and
he was in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“I saw more water there
than I saw at Katrina,” he
said, and noted Harvey
brought with it four times as
much rain as Katrina. “I never
saw so much water in my life.
It’s just unbelievable.”
Lee’s first order of business
in Beaumont was to conduct a
welfare check on a man, who
he found to be just fine and
in good spirits. While at the
man’s home, a woman who
works at a nearby nursing
home housing 137 full-care
and in many cases fragile residents
informed Lee the home
had no clean, running water.
“I knew right away I had to
get over there,” Lee said. “So,
I hustled over there, and when
I got there it was like the cavalry
had arrived. They didn’t
have [clean] water for three
or four days, maybe longer.
They had water but had to
boil it. So, the staff was about
ready to pull their hair out.”
Lee’s subsequent mission
in East Texas was to help a
“Texas cowboy” rescue horses
trapped by the floodwaters.
How the partnership between
he and the cowboy came to be
was, to Lee, as a man of faith,
not coincidental. Lee just
happened to run across the
man, who offered to help Lee
deliver three tons of water to
nursing homes in Beaumont
if Lee would help him with
the horse rescue. Once again,
Lee had no real plan when he
set forth, yet he was able to
provide help to many people
in critical need.
“It’s all kind of on a wing
and prayer; you kind of figure
it out as you go,” he said.
“Speaking as a Christian,
as a believer: God is actually
paying attention to these
situations, and you just have
to roll with it and keep your
eyes open and ears open. He
provides the people and resources
you need at the time.”
On the road again and again
Following his work in
Texas, Lee visited Antioch,
Tennessee, where he went in
response to the shooting at
Burnette Chapel Church of
Christ; the Florida Keys, in
response to Hurricane Irma;
Las Vegas, where he provided
a chaplain’s presence at the
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concert venue-turned-crime
scene near Mandalay Bay; and
Northern California, where
wildfires scorched parts of
Mendocino County and killed
more than 40 people.
Lee described the crime
scene in Vegas as “horrific.”
He recalled seeing an empty
wheelchair and wondering
what happened to its former
occupant, as well as bulletriddled
police cars and bloody
footprints leading from the
concert venue to a Catholic
church across the street,
where the person who left the
prints assumingly sought refuge.
The scale of the carnage
was something it took him
awhile to process, despite all
he has seen.
“This was even beyond
the scope and scale of what I
could imagine,” he said. “To
see the demonic planning and
mindset coupled with [the
shooter’s] resources ... that
was hard. It was just beyond
comprehension.
“The obvious evil that goes
into something like this is the
difference between natural
and man-made disasters.”
Lee primarily provided a
chaplain’s presence at the
crime scene, but he also
prayed with the loved ones
of persons who had yet to be
confirmed dead. Some families
had to wait as many as
four days for the news, all the
while anticipating what that
news would inevitably be.
“Knowing almost certainly
that they’re dead ... but not
knowing,” he said. “You pray
with people; you put your
hand on their shoulder; you
try to show compassion and
concern, and then let them
talk ... and it’s tough.”
One of the most haunting
memories for investigators
of the Vegas crime scene was
the incessant ringing of cellphones
as they collected evidence,
Lee said.
“You think of thousands of
people running for their lives,
dropping things out of their
pockets, like cellphones,” he
explained. “What are [loved
ones] going to be doing to
confirm their status? You’re
going to call them on their
cellphone.”
While the situations to
which Lee responds are
tragic, he embraces the crucial
role of providing spiritual
support to police officers,
firefighters and other public
servants, as well as anyone
else who might need it. This
can be through prayer, conversation
and encouragement,
or simply allowing people to
talk and unburden themselves
of the thoughts and feelings
brought on by being amid
great tragedy and human suffering.
The work can be difficult,
both physically and
emotionally, but for Lee it is
rewarding and a significant
aspect of his ministry.
“I love to help people in a
time of need like that,” he said.
“Fundamentally, what keeps
me going is my faith, and a
belief that a loving God cares
about these things and cares
about the people amidst the
terrible things that do happen.
Because we live in a flawed
world, we can ask all sort of
existential questions about
‘why’ and all of that, but at the
end of the day that doesn’t really
help; what really helps is
to roll up your sleeves and get
in there and help people, and
see how God gets in there to
help people, too.”
Self-care
With Lee always providing
help to others, he has to make
sure he takes time to help
himself. So, he is deliberate
about not taking on more than
he can handle, taking breaks
when necessary and doing
his best to balance his quickresponse
work with his fulltime
job as a church pastor
and time with his family. He
also makes sure to hydrate,
eat well and get an appropriate
amount of sleep.
Lee recalled returning
from Las Vegas and almost
immediately being back at
his church, teaching an adult
Sunday school class. But the
session turned into more of an
opportunity for Lee to relieve
himself of the pent-up emotions
from his latest trip.
“We were talking about
things, and one of the head
elders told the students, ‘I
think we should just let pastor
talk,” he said. “And that was
so precious to me. That was
my therapy, absolutely.”
The recent wildfires in
Northern California affected
Lee on a much more personal
level than most of his quickresponse
excursions. Lee and
his wife lived in the region
for several years early in their
marriage, and more than 30
years ago built a home in the
picturesque community of
Redwood Valley. There, they
formed many precious memories,
and three of their four
children were born during
their time in the home.
The wildfire reduced that
house to ashes.
“That was tough,” he said
of seeing the home completely
destroyed. “It’s like I told
the current owner — there’s
a lot of cherished memories
there — this one’s not business;
this one is personal.”
But before he visited the
property where his old home
once stood, he went to the
home — or what had been
the home — of an old friend
he knew from his SWAT
team days. Lee arrived at
the site roughly a half-hour
before his friend and his
friend’s wife returned from
vacationing in Oregon. It
had been years since the two
men had seen each other.
“He drives up and gets
out and looks at me ... and I
walked over and just gave
him a big hug, just gave him
a big hug and told him I heard
what happened and told him,
‘I had to be here.’”
The old friends spent some
time walking around the large
piece of property, as his friend
talked about the things he and
his wife lost in the fire.
“I just spent time a lot of
time listening letting him
know that I care and I’m
here for him,” Lee said.
“That’s the kind of stuff: it’s
hard; it’s really, really hard,
but it’s precious work, and
I’m so privileged.
“It’s good work. It’s needed
work. Unfortunately, we live
in a world that seems to be
going increasingly crazy, and
there’s a need for this kind of
work. But, again, it’s a privilege
to be part of it.”