A God send after the storm

Lots of transplants wind up in D.C., including the Rev. Thomas Omholt of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in D.C. “I was born and raised on Staten Island,” said Pr. Omholt, “and my first parish was St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Ave. J in Brooklyn. When Hurricane Sandy hit, I immediately felt the Spirit calling us in Washington to help out.”

The Davises and Pr. Omholt almost 30 years ago

Volunteers from St. Paul’s in D.C. tackled damage* at the home of the Davis family, displaced residents of Midland Beach, in a mission endeavor the week of November 25. The home was randomly selected from a Staten Island Friends Together (SIFT) registry of storm ravaged homes.

Turns out there was more to the connection .

Chit chat unmasked the bridge between Pr. Omholt and the region, then much more remarkably, between Pr. Omholt and the Davis family. Unrecognized by the parties involved, they met 29 years ago — at the altar of St. Paul’s in Brooklyn when the couple was wed.

Want more? The wedding band placed on Joseph Davis’ finger in 1983 had been missing for about eight years, until it turned up behind sheetrock dislodged during storm cleanup.

Joseph and Trisha Davis have asked Pr. Omholt to mark this bright spot of joy in the middle of life-shifting struggle by officiating at a renewal of vows ceremony on their wedding anniversary next year.

Read “Ill winds blow some good to Staten Island family” (by Tracey Porpora, Staten Island Advance, 12/8/12) for more on this event.

* See what the congregational volunteers saw on Staten Island with St. Paul Lutheran Church’s recently posted photo album on Facebook.