I’m Gonna Sing

Fifteen years and one week ago, Hurricane Ike hit our town. Out of 1,400 hundred homes, only twelve did not have damage. Unfortunately, we were not one of the twelve. Gratefully, we were able to live in our home because our main floor is the second floor. We even had room for our neighbors to move in for a couple of months. After evacuating for several days, we returned to a mess. We had moved in only fourteen months before, so our hearts were a little broken. Our boathouse finished the week before had to be torn down. Our first floor was full of boxes from both of our parents’ homes that were water-soaked and ruined. The line was 28 inches on the wall where the water settled. My husband’s 1965 and 2005 T-birds were both flooded as well. Well, we had insurance for all of that, cars, flood, homeowners, and were surely covered.

About a week later, an adjuster was getting out of his car as I returned from some errands. He was shaking his head no before he got to our driveway. As he surveyed the damage, he claimed we were not covered for our homeowner’s insurance. To make a long story short, our insurance agent came immediately and we discovered that someone had checked a wrong box on a form so the insurance would not have to pay. Our insurance agent was a good, Godly man and a close friend. After all of that, he said we should sue him for “E&O”.

What should we do? 1 Corinthians 6:1 says, “When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers.” This man was our friend.

This really doesn’t follow what Paul was trying to tell the Corinthians or maybe it does. Evidently, court in Corinth was in the town square and was participated in like daytime drama. Paul did not want the testimony of the new Christians to be tainted by going to a secular court to sue fellow believers. People are watching to see how we respond in difficult circumstances. What kind of example would we be to the world that is watching us? What kind of example would we be to other Christians walking through a controversy? Paul ultimately closes this part of the chapter with verse 7, “Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” Walking in forgiveness and losing disagreements is a better blessing than winning against a fellow Christian.

The Lord has reminded me about this past week and what happened next. That night, my husband and I were angry, sad, and almost hopeless. We started talking and I remember saying to him, “We don’t want to lose our testimony over this.” For almost the first time, we joined hands and prayed. We both prayed but not like this. Thus began a prayer journey that hasn’t stopped in fifteen years. Every night, no matter what, we pray. What blessings we have seen in our prayers for friends and family out of the mess that started with an adjuster shaking his head “NO”.

To make a long story short, the Lord provided on our home repair journey. Our insurance agent helped us go up the ladder of the insurance company. He gave us answers to help ourselves he probably shouldn’t have. We needed some survey work done. When we called the surveyor, he sent his crew but would not charge us because that’s how you help friends he said. Even the old county surveyor was still alive and remembered where the marker was for the land. We have the only exception on the FEMA map. I could go on and on with doors that should have been closed but were not. After seven months, we received checks to complete repairs on everything. God is so faithful.