23370 Perdido Beach Blvd.

P. O. Box 128 Orange Beach, AL 36561

PHONE: (251) 981-8959

Paul L. Smith, Th.D., Pastor

Mailing address: P.O. Box 683 Saraland, AL 36571

PHONE: (251) 675-3412 FAX: (251) 679-0260

September 21, 2004 The rain came. The wind blew. The flood came as a mighty storm surge. The house built on the sand fell and great was the fall of it. Sounds like the story Jesus told that is recorded in Matthew Chapter 7. However, it also describes our church building.

The sign out front that is in the form of a 15’ high cross still stands. The picture of a lighthouse with the inscription "God’s Lighthouse on the Beach” is still there as a witness to what God has done and what he is going to do. However, everything else is gone. There are some broken pilings that stick up from 3 to 5 feet above ground. Close inspection reveals that sand has washed away about the same depth that the pilings are now visible. This indicates that the storm surge, which has been variously reported as between 15 and 40 feet, hit the building with such force that the pilings were sheared off at ground level like toothpicks. There is no visible sign of any of the church building or contents anywhere on the property.

National news channels showed a before and after picture of our church. The before showed the church boarded up and “prepared” for the storm. The after picture showed our sign and the vacant lot. By showing the sign, it also showed our web page address, romarbeach.org. Since then we have had over 4,000 hits on our web page in four days. Praise God! Also, a lady from Illinois emailed me that she saw the report before breakfast. As she ate God spoke to her to go back to the TV and see if she could find out the name of the church. As she entered her television room the church was on again and she clearly saw “Romar Beach Baptist Church”. She has recently received some money and said God told her to send a portion of it to help rebuild the church. God continues to bless. As the old country preacher said, “Ain’t God good”.

Temporarily, we are holding Sunday services at 9:00 a.m. at Ryan’s Restaurant in Foley. Thursday night services will be held at John and Beverly Barrett’s home off County Road 10 at 6:00 p.m. As soon as possible, we want to hold an open-air service on Sunday morning at the property and make our stand in the sand.

We had already submitted plans to Orange Beach for an addition to our building. Now it is abundantly clear that God’s plan for us was bigger than our vision. He wants us to have a total new facility, bigger and better for even greater service. We are working on plans for a total new building.

We appreciate the calls and emails from so many of you, most asking about our needs and what you can do. As we have lost our building and all contents, we need everything. A church called this morning and donated us 150 hymnals. At this writing that is the total we own other than the bare land. Any assistance you can give would be greatly appreciated. Once building plans are approved we will need work crews.

We thank God that all of our church family has weathered the storm without sickness or injury. God is still blessing and we are not discouraged. Far from being downhearted, we eagerly anticipate the challenge and cannot wait to start building. We are not having a pity party for us; we are praising God for the way he keeps on blessing. The encouragement, prayers and concern expressed by God’s family from across the country have been overwhelming. Romans 8:28 is still in the Bible. Indeed, all things do work together for good to them who love the Lord. He can take anything that comes, even the greatest tragedy or devastation, and bring good out of it. We are experiencing that wonderful truth. We praise God for the way he is using you to demonstrate the truth of His promise.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

“When the storms of life are raging stand by me”. Those familiar words from a gospel song have special meaning for us today. We have seen the physical storm called Hurricane Ivan. We have experienced its fury and seen its devastation. However, we have come through the storm and remain an enthusiastic family of God eagerly anticipating what the future holds. That’s because we know who holds the future and we know He holds our hand.

However, the greatest storms of life are not those that attack us physically. It is those that attack us spiritually. We were never promised that we would not have storms. We all do. God’s promise is that we do not have to fear the storms because we do not have to face them alone. Jesus has promised never to leave us or forsake us. He has promised that if our life is built on the solid rock, that foundation will be there to hold us up during the midst of the storm. The storm may rage, but it will not devastate the life built on the solid rock. We come through the storms and discover that our faith and our lives have been strengthened because of them. Lord thank you for the storms of life and the way you use them to make us better people. Remember the comforting words of Jesus who said, “My strength is sufficient for you”.