There is something about an emergency that brings out the best in us.  Telephone calls criss-crossed Tuesday and Wednesday in the wake of the ice storm as people checked on one another.  Some went house to house to look-in on neighbors and friends.  

My colleague the Rev. Suzanne Stoner and I went through our list of elderly or at-risk folks to make sure everyone was safe.  Everywhere we turned we found people helping people.  

Irene Pritchard picked up an elderly widow from our church to add her to Irene’s home’s hospitality.  “My house was built before these modern conveniences,” she said, “so it works just fine without electricity.”

Suzanne caught up with our friend John who lives on the ninth floor of Highland Tower.  Normally he gets around by his battery powered wheelchair.  He was in trouble, stuck in darkness with his cell phone dying.  Suzanne called the Washington County Emergency Management Department.  They quickly gave her a number; it was Central EMS.  An upbeat voice responded when Suzanne explained the situation -- “We’ll take care of it.”  Within ten minutes they were at the tower, taking John to the Health Department Shelter by Washington Regional.  When Suzanne got to the shelter she said there was a warm, welcoming community already forming there, creating a cozy and hospitable home for John and others among the oxygen tanks and walkers.

Everybody we talked to had a “can do” attitude.  The residents at Hillcrest were pretty cold.  “Wouldn’t some hot coffee be wonderful?”  Suzanne grabbed airpots from St. Paul’s, found that Loafin Joe’s had power.  She was just starting to explain the problem when a server grabbed the airpots and began filling them with hot coffee.

The hospital needed blood; visitors quickly stopped their errands and donated.  Guys pulled out their chain saws and started doing what guys with chain saws do.  It was real busy at Seven Hills where people from the homeless community were helping each other, as they do so well.  After living for a few days without heat or electricity, I felt an extra degree of empathy for those who live regularly without such privileges.  I was proud of the Times; our paper was on the porch each morning.  I was even glad I filled the bird feeders last week before the storm, and enjoyed their hungry activity.  

Everyone was especially grateful for the emergency crews.  They do the hard, cold, and sometimes dangerous work that brings needed relief in a time of crisis.  There’s a nice prayer in our evening office of Compline:  O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live:  Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other’s toil...  Amen.

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Governor Beebe has endorsed a win-win measure in the Arkansas legislature that holds great promise for improved health for Arkansans.  HB 1204 would fund a needed statewide trauma system and help our community health centers which focus on care for people without insurance or with limited access to health care.  My wife directs a community health center, and I know first-hand of the life-saving work these clinics do for so many hard-working people whose jobs do not include insurance benefits.  So many of the patients are children.  

Funding would come from a 56-cent tax on tobacco.  Whenever states increase their tobacco tax, fewer teens and young people get addicted.  The tax is both an incentive for people to quit and a pay-back for the enormous health costs we all incur from smoking-related illnesses.  

The tobacco lobby is out in force to try to bully our legislators.  Yes, the same bunch that lied for forty years when they knew cigarettes cause cancer are blowing smoke again trying to defeat this life-saving bill.  Call your representatives and tell them to do the right thing.  You can leave a message for your House members at 501-682-6211 or for your Senators at 501-682-2902.