I think the title of this blog is fitting because I am sure some of us are ready to say "Oh ya, I have not heard much about Fort Mac....." but lest we forget that they are our Albertan and Canadian family members - we dare NOT forget. One day it could be you or I in need of our Albertan and/or Canadian family.
When I went to the Southern USA in 2007, I drove through four states and one of them was Mississippi. I got to drive through cities that had been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I was there two years after the hurricane.
What I saw stunned me. I had not heard much about Katrina for quite a while in the media. But the devastation, clean up or repairs were far from over. It was eerie to see the city still carrying on in the midst of rubble and remembrances of a disaster.
I took a video of the back of a mall totally demolished and the Olive Garden - still in pieces, just the name sign. Several structures were just concrete slabs with hundreds of electrical wires hanging down. They had hauled away some walls but the wires ran through the concrete so they were still there looking like some kind of alien octopus with tentacles hanging down all over the place.
There were motor homes set up all over with displaced people living in them and still no where to call "home." I fear it will be similar for some of our Fort Mac families.
The displaced folks of Fort Mac are probably looking at years of clean up, displacement and repairs. Some will have moved on to other places not willing to go back and start over back there. Some will have moved back to Fort Mac to try to pick up the pieces and continue on. One thing is for sure - life will never be the same in Fort Mac.
I believe it our responsibility to be the people "who cross the street" - the good Samaritans if you will, he helped someone he did not know or was attached to in anyway. He defied cultural boundaries to help someone in need. Will you continue to pray, help and offer support to ensure the people who need help know there are people out there who care? Continue to pray for wisdom for government officials as how to rebuild and what to rebuild as some of the structural damage is not even visible.
Keep remembering Fort Mac and keep remembering that it could have been us - Lest We Forget!