Jeremy Rutledge at one time was a pastor here in Houston. He is now in South Carolina but he still considers Houston his home. He wrote a poem about this flooding event that has gone viral. Here is what he says about what he wrote: “Yesterday afternoon I wrote a few lines to my old hometown of Houston. I made the post public and this morning it has 2.2K likes and 1.6K shares. I was surprised how many people thought what I wrote was a prayer. It wasn’t a prayer - it was a poem to a place and people I love. My real prayer is the donation I made this morning. I invite you to do the same." Here is the full text of his Hurricane Harvey poem.

to pray for Houston
you have to pray
in her way
pray like Beyoncé
when she was
at HSPVA
or Billy and Dusty
shooting pool
at Rudyard's
pray like you're
sitting over soup
at Spanish Flowers
or pho at Mai's
steaming your glasses
pray like the kids
playing soccer
on the east side
or mutton busting
at the livestock show
pray like the runners
in Memorial Park
lacing them up
or the researchers
in the medical center
looking into microscopes
if you want
to pray for Houston
you have to pray
as quietly as
the Rothko Chapel
or Houston Zen Center
and you have to pray
as loudly as
the old scoreboard
at the Astrodome
after a José Cruz
home run
you have to pray
sitting under
a live oak tree
or standing next to
an azalea bloom
while your skin
clams in the heat
if you want to pray
for Houston
you have to pray
without pretense
this ain't Dallas
and in a neighborly way
as friends come out
to check on each other
in the rain
and those
who are far away
watch screens
and wipe our eyes
if you want to pray
for Houston
raise a bottle of Shiner
to the gray sky
and say that 130 mile an hour winds
and 9 trillion gallons of rain
are no match
for a city of such life
and diversity
you can fill up our bayou
but you will never rain
on our parade