Introduction
I was not supposed to get the e-mail but I did. The e-mail from Theda Hlavka, the leader of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort at Good Shepherd Community Church was addressed to a select group of church members who were interested in helping with Hurricane Katrina aid. Contained in the e-mail was an update concerning the plans of Good Shepherd Community Church to assist with Katrina relief by sending several short term mission teams into the Gulf Coast over the following several weeks. By accident, this update had been sent to the entire church body and that is how I found it in my mailbox on that Saturday morning in September.
“That’s nice.” I thought to myself upon reading the information. “But there is no way that I would be able to go on such a trip.”
It was not that I didn’t care. Like millions of Americans I had watched the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina on television and was genuinely heartbroken by the stories of those who had lost so much in the disaster. However, going on a mission trip would mean taking a week off from work without pay. I was just beginning to get my head above water financially. Did I really want to jeopardize my finances by going off to the Gulf Coast? No. It was settled. I would give as much as I could afford to the effort and keep it in prayer but I would do so from right here in Gresham, Oregon.
But God, it seems, had other plans. As the day wore on, I could not get the thought of going on a Katrina relief team out of my head. A tiny voice inside of me began to whisper, “This might be doable.” At first I tried to ignore the voice but as the day went on, to my excitement and at the same time to my horror, that little voice began to grow more persistent. That evening, when I went to church, I came across the disaster relief table in the lobby and took a flyer relating to the mission teams. As I read that piece of paper, my excitement grew. Could God really be calling me to leave all for a week and minister to the victims of Katrina? As I sat through the service that afternoon my mind raced faster and faster. “Thanksgiving week.” the little voice encouraged me. “Go during the week of Thanksgiving.” I love our services at Good Shepherd. However on this day, I wanted the message to end as soon as possible so that I could get back out to the Katrina relief table. I had to see if a team was indeed going over the week of Thanksgiving, and put my name on the list of people who wanted to go.
There was still one problem though. There was no way that I would be able to afford the 400 dollars that it would cost to buy the plane tickets. After the service, I was talking to Theda about this dilemma when a woman walked up and presented Theda with a check for 400 dollars -- Enough for someone to go. To me this was confirmation. God was calling me down to the Gulf coast. However, one question remained: Would I answer the call?
I stayed up almost all night that night. Unable to sleep, I went for a walk in the chilly night air. During my stroll, I thought of dozens of reasons why I should not go. However, every time I came up with a reason to avoid going on the trip, there came a reassurance. I ended the day by reading Exodus Chapters 3 and 4. What I read there all but settled the question in my mind.
You see, Moses did a lot of great things in his lifetime but chapters 3 and 4 in the book of Exodus tell of one of his not-so-great moments. In these passages, the Lord tells Moses that He has chosen him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses comes up with no less than five different arguments why he should not be the one to undertake this monumental task. Ignoring Gods reassurances he scrambles to think of every possible reason why God should pick someone else. Moses argued when he should have obeyed because he was scared of failure and I came to realize that I was coming dangerously close to doing the exact same thing. I fell asleep that night having made a decision: I was going.
In the following weeks, the Lord laid another assignment on my heart. I felt like He wanted me to pay close attention to my surroundings while I was in the disaster zone. He wanted me to come back and tell others what I saw and experienced. That’s where the idea of keeping a journal came from. The writing that you are going to read is a little rough in spots because as much as possible, I kept it like I wrote it in my notebook every night. If you read carefully, you can probably pick up on my fatigue in some of the entries. You may also be able to sense uncertainty at times along with awe, both of the destruction that I saw and of the faith and hope that I found in the people who I met. I cleaned up some sentences so that they would make sense to someone besides myself and moved some sentences around to make the paragraphs flow more smoothly but for the most part, you’re reading what happened in New Orleans and Gulfport Mississippi as I originally wrote it. And so, journey with me back to the early morning hours of Sunday November 20th, 2005, in an airplane somewhere over the Midwestern United states and join me on this adventure. Thanks for reading and enjoy.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunday, 11/20/05 -- Day 1
We left Good Shepherd late last evening and flew all night, arriving at New Orleans early this morning. The flight was long and I was unable to get any sleep so as you can imagine, I’m exhausted at the moment. I had so many feelings going through me as we flew: Excitement, nervousness, worry. Would our team be able to come together and be unified? Would we get along with those who we would meet on the ground? What would we say to all of these people who have lost so much? As we flew from Portland to Atlanta, I got a sudden urge to pray for the trip. I don’t know how long I prayed on that plane, time kind of is irrelevant when you’re on a cross country flight in the middle of the night, but I prayed the blood of Jesus on this group an our trip. I prayed that we would be unified, I prayed that we would honor God in our work in the south. I prayed for guidance for our leadership. You name it, I prayed about it. It was a great time of coming before God in the darkness of the plane and I felt better afterward. After a brief stop in Atlanta, we caught our connecting flight into New Orleans.
Impressions as we flew into New Orleans: Lake Ponchatrain is HUGE!! Theda says that the lake is 26-27 miles across. The last time she was here, she told us that the water was all the way up to the bridge spanning the lake, making it look as if they were driving on water.
I also found myself wondering as we flew in, why so many of the houses had blue roofs. On second glance, I discovered that the blue roofs were not roofs at all but tarps which had been placed where roofs had once been.
As we got off the plane, I was expecting an overpowering smell (I had been warned beforehand that there was a stench that hit you coming off the plane) but no smell was apparent to me. We retrieved our luggage before Tanya, Theda, and I caught the airport shuttle to the rental car company where we picked up two newly cleaned identical minivans. We then drove back to the airport and picked up our teammates and the luggage. We were given bad directions at the airport so initially we drove away from New Orleans. It was at this point that we got our first glimpse from the ground at the damage caused by Katrina. Trees by the roadside are completely torn up. Some have been uprooted entirely. Groups of trees are lying in the same direction. As we turned around and drove back into town, I noticed that all of the streetlights and telephone poles are at least slightly off kilter. None of them stand straight up and down. River Ridge, the suburb of New Orleans where we are to stay does not look like it has fared too badly from Katrina although many of the buildings are closed and abandoned.
As we pulled into a local Subway sandwich shop for lunch, I noticed that the lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll on me. Besides being tired, I had a bad headache and felt sick to my stomach. Despite my discomfort, I managed to get down a six inch veggie delight sandwich before we moved on to Riverside Baptist Church, just down the street. Service at Riverside was just getting out as we pulled in. After the congregation had left, we entered the worship center, a sanctuary with high ceilings, pews which seated about 300, and stained glass windows. We found Pastor Jim who gave us a quick tour of where we will be staying. The showers here are amazing! They are outdoor showers that some volunteers made from pallets. They look similar to those on the TV show MASH. The volunteers have done an excellent job on the showers. They have hot water, a wooden floor, places to hang your clothes and everything else you would need. The only drawback is that the showers are located right underneath the windows of classrooms to the churches school. So in order to keep from traumatizing any students who might happen to be looking out the window at the wrong moment, we have to shower at night. We also saw where we are going to be sleeping. We will sleep on some cots in the choir suite. Lots of space for everyone.
After a nap which lasted about an hour I felt much better although I still had a bit of a headache. We began the very hard work of setting up for a community turkey gumbo thanksgiving dinner that the church hosted tonight for the community. They cooked the gumbo in these gigantic pots outside of the kitchen. There were these big oar like things that they stirred it with -- very southern. We had the meal in the parking lot and although it looked like rain for awhile, the weather held out nicely (God is indeed good). We worked with a team from Philadelphia that arrived yesterday.
After we set up the parking lot, we had a little free time. The assistant Pastor James took us to the house that we will be doing demolition work on tomorrow. It is a little house on the church property. It hasn’t been flood damaged but it has fallen into disrepair. It’s going to be remodeled and turned into a staff house but first we need to tear the whole thing down to the studs and foundation. That means the ceiling, drywall, nails, insulation, moldings, etc have to come out. After viewing the house, we went back to the tables that we had set up and began putting flyers on place settings. Before we could get all the flyers on the tables, people started arriving for the picnic. I got to meet an area firefighter (I want to say Jake), encourage him, and tell him ‘great job’ for serving his community. Also met Tiffany, a college student and several high school students who were really bummed that they had no place to skateboard in the area. Gave a Randy Alcorn book to a man who’s name I forget for Leanne. He was an awesome guy and seemed very happy to get this gift. The people there were very grateful to us for putting on this event. Lots of “thank yous” etc. There were about 300 people who showed up and I got the distinct feeling that for some of them, this was the only Thanksgiving that they are going to get this year.
Pastor Jim gave a short message at the picnic. At one point he had all of the children come up to him and then one by one, he asked them what they were thankful for. The answers were all things like, “Mommy”, “Family”, “Church family”, etc. I can’t help but wonder how many of these children had lost homes etc. in the storm.
After the event, we helped tear down before taking showers. The day ended with a devotional time led by Theda in which Carole gave her testimony and we all talked about what God had taught us through today. Our prayer right now is that as we go to work on that house tomorrow that there will be no power struggles and one leader (not ten guys who THINK they know the best way to do the job). We’ll see what happens. Now I am going to sleep.
We left Good Shepherd late last evening and flew all night, arriving at New Orleans early this morning. The flight was long and I was unable to get any sleep so as you can imagine, I’m exhausted at the moment. I had so many feelings going through me as we flew: Excitement, nervousness, worry. Would our team be able to come together and be unified? Would we get along with those who we would meet on the ground? What would we say to all of these people who have lost so much? As we flew from Portland to Atlanta, I got a sudden urge to pray for the trip. I don’t know how long I prayed on that plane, time kind of is irrelevant when you’re on a cross country flight in the middle of the night, but I prayed the blood of Jesus on this group an our trip. I prayed that we would be unified, I prayed that we would honor God in our work in the south. I prayed for guidance for our leadership. You name it, I prayed about it. It was a great time of coming before God in the darkness of the plane and I felt better afterward. After a brief stop in Atlanta, we caught our connecting flight into New Orleans.
Impressions as we flew into New Orleans: Lake Ponchatrain is HUGE!! Theda says that the lake is 26-27 miles across. The last time she was here, she told us that the water was all the way up to the bridge spanning the lake, making it look as if they were driving on water.
I also found myself wondering as we flew in, why so many of the houses had blue roofs. On second glance, I discovered that the blue roofs were not roofs at all but tarps which had been placed where roofs had once been.
As we got off the plane, I was expecting an overpowering smell (I had been warned beforehand that there was a stench that hit you coming off the plane) but no smell was apparent to me. We retrieved our luggage before Tanya, Theda, and I caught the airport shuttle to the rental car company where we picked up two newly cleaned identical minivans. We then drove back to the airport and picked up our teammates and the luggage. We were given bad directions at the airport so initially we drove away from New Orleans. It was at this point that we got our first glimpse from the ground at the damage caused by Katrina. Trees by the roadside are completely torn up. Some have been uprooted entirely. Groups of trees are lying in the same direction. As we turned around and drove back into town, I noticed that all of the streetlights and telephone poles are at least slightly off kilter. None of them stand straight up and down. River Ridge, the suburb of New Orleans where we are to stay does not look like it has fared too badly from Katrina although many of the buildings are closed and abandoned.
As we pulled into a local Subway sandwich shop for lunch, I noticed that the lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll on me. Besides being tired, I had a bad headache and felt sick to my stomach. Despite my discomfort, I managed to get down a six inch veggie delight sandwich before we moved on to Riverside Baptist Church, just down the street. Service at Riverside was just getting out as we pulled in. After the congregation had left, we entered the worship center, a sanctuary with high ceilings, pews which seated about 300, and stained glass windows. We found Pastor Jim who gave us a quick tour of where we will be staying. The showers here are amazing! They are outdoor showers that some volunteers made from pallets. They look similar to those on the TV show MASH. The volunteers have done an excellent job on the showers. They have hot water, a wooden floor, places to hang your clothes and everything else you would need. The only drawback is that the showers are located right underneath the windows of classrooms to the churches school. So in order to keep from traumatizing any students who might happen to be looking out the window at the wrong moment, we have to shower at night. We also saw where we are going to be sleeping. We will sleep on some cots in the choir suite. Lots of space for everyone.
After a nap which lasted about an hour I felt much better although I still had a bit of a headache. We began the very hard work of setting up for a community turkey gumbo thanksgiving dinner that the church hosted tonight for the community. They cooked the gumbo in these gigantic pots outside of the kitchen. There were these big oar like things that they stirred it with -- very southern. We had the meal in the parking lot and although it looked like rain for awhile, the weather held out nicely (God is indeed good). We worked with a team from Philadelphia that arrived yesterday.
After we set up the parking lot, we had a little free time. The assistant Pastor James took us to the house that we will be doing demolition work on tomorrow. It is a little house on the church property. It hasn’t been flood damaged but it has fallen into disrepair. It’s going to be remodeled and turned into a staff house but first we need to tear the whole thing down to the studs and foundation. That means the ceiling, drywall, nails, insulation, moldings, etc have to come out. After viewing the house, we went back to the tables that we had set up and began putting flyers on place settings. Before we could get all the flyers on the tables, people started arriving for the picnic. I got to meet an area firefighter (I want to say Jake), encourage him, and tell him ‘great job’ for serving his community. Also met Tiffany, a college student and several high school students who were really bummed that they had no place to skateboard in the area. Gave a Randy Alcorn book to a man who’s name I forget for Leanne. He was an awesome guy and seemed very happy to get this gift. The people there were very grateful to us for putting on this event. Lots of “thank yous” etc. There were about 300 people who showed up and I got the distinct feeling that for some of them, this was the only Thanksgiving that they are going to get this year.
Pastor Jim gave a short message at the picnic. At one point he had all of the children come up to him and then one by one, he asked them what they were thankful for. The answers were all things like, “Mommy”, “Family”, “Church family”, etc. I can’t help but wonder how many of these children had lost homes etc. in the storm.
After the event, we helped tear down before taking showers. The day ended with a devotional time led by Theda in which Carole gave her testimony and we all talked about what God had taught us through today. Our prayer right now is that as we go to work on that house tomorrow that there will be no power struggles and one leader (not ten guys who THINK they know the best way to do the job). We’ll see what happens. Now I am going to sleep.
Monday, 11/21/2005 -- Day 2
Spent all day demolishing a house. It will be remodeled and made into a home for one of the pastors here who lost his home in the hurricane. We tore out the drywall and everything else except the foundation and the studs. I was able to rescue a small lizard that was living in the wall. It was very dusty, dirty work (especially dealing with that insulation). The ladies on our team (Theda, Carol and Jaime) treated us like royalty. We even each got a shoulder rub from Carol as we ate lunch.
We worked again with the team from Philadelphia. Pastor Dave from that team took charge of the operation and we all pulled together really well under him so that was a real answer to last nights prayer. Relationships with those on the Philly team are becoming stronger. We all ate dinner together tonight. Had a great time talking with Frank from the Philly church. Frank and I shared with each other about our churches (theirs is a small but growing congregation that meets in a movie theater). I told Frank about the history of Good Shepherd, how we started out in a basement etc. After dinner, we had a devotion together led by Pastor Dave. Two guys from California joined us during this time. Later, another family from Kentucky came in. They are working at different projects than we are but are staying at Riverside. All of them are really cool people. We had a great time of worship and sharing about what God has done so far on this trip. We talked about what a great work day it has been (we gutted that entire house in one day…the Riverside people didn’t think we could but we did!)
Tonight, we took one of the vans and toured some of the more devastated areas in New Orleans. We drove around the Superdome. Several windows in adjacent buildings are still broken out. After that, we attempted to drive into some of the neighborhoods that had been hit hard by the Hurricanes. We were turned back at a couple of military checkpoints (glad I had my lost tourist routine polished). These checkpoints were interesting in themselves. They were guarded by soldiers with M-16 rifles strapped across their backs. In some places, they were barrel burning to fight the chill of the evening. It seemed as if we were in another country. We finally entered a neighborhood that was not guarded. The carnage is indescribable. It is comparable to the aftermath of 9/11 or some kind of bomb going off. Trees are knocked over, houses and cars (many of which have flat tires or no tires at all) are gutted, debris is everywhere along with signs advertising house gutting. Everything looks to be covered by some type of fine white dust. Some of the appliances in the street have advertisements for gutting and salvage spray painted on them. There were no lights in these neighborhoods. They were complete ghost towns. Not a human being in sight. Stray cats roaming everywhere. Many houses had messages spray painted on them requesting the rescue of pets presumably trapped inside. Others had messages painted by rescuers indicating the number of dead animals found in the house (one place had 6 dead cats inside of it). All had a cross painted on them. In the upper right corner of this cross was painted the date that rescuers inspected the house. The bottom left corner showed the number of dead found inside the house. All of the houses that I could see had zero dead inside. We left the neighborhood after touring several blocks for fear of arousing suspicion. I’m sure there is still fear of looters in these neighborhoods.
After leaving the residential neighborhoods, we drove into downtown New Orleans. There is a very heavy police and military presence downtown. Military police vehicles are parked in the median of the main drag every few blocks. About 60 percent of the traffic lights downtown are now working. Some are completely off, others are blinking yellow. Tried to drive into the French quarter but found it blocked off. We noticed a large crowd of people on Bourbon street. There was one downed palm tree in the median.
Tomorrow, I think we are going to Vieux Carrere church in the French Quarter. Lord, please be with these people and the city. It’s one thing to see this destruction on TV but to actually drive through it…well, as I said, it’s indescribable.
Personal feeling: Tired. Should have been asleep hours ago. Going there now. P.S. There are help wanted signs absolutely everywhere around here. All of the employees have left.
Spent all day demolishing a house. It will be remodeled and made into a home for one of the pastors here who lost his home in the hurricane. We tore out the drywall and everything else except the foundation and the studs. I was able to rescue a small lizard that was living in the wall. It was very dusty, dirty work (especially dealing with that insulation). The ladies on our team (Theda, Carol and Jaime) treated us like royalty. We even each got a shoulder rub from Carol as we ate lunch.
We worked again with the team from Philadelphia. Pastor Dave from that team took charge of the operation and we all pulled together really well under him so that was a real answer to last nights prayer. Relationships with those on the Philly team are becoming stronger. We all ate dinner together tonight. Had a great time talking with Frank from the Philly church. Frank and I shared with each other about our churches (theirs is a small but growing congregation that meets in a movie theater). I told Frank about the history of Good Shepherd, how we started out in a basement etc. After dinner, we had a devotion together led by Pastor Dave. Two guys from California joined us during this time. Later, another family from Kentucky came in. They are working at different projects than we are but are staying at Riverside. All of them are really cool people. We had a great time of worship and sharing about what God has done so far on this trip. We talked about what a great work day it has been (we gutted that entire house in one day…the Riverside people didn’t think we could but we did!)
Tonight, we took one of the vans and toured some of the more devastated areas in New Orleans. We drove around the Superdome. Several windows in adjacent buildings are still broken out. After that, we attempted to drive into some of the neighborhoods that had been hit hard by the Hurricanes. We were turned back at a couple of military checkpoints (glad I had my lost tourist routine polished). These checkpoints were interesting in themselves. They were guarded by soldiers with M-16 rifles strapped across their backs. In some places, they were barrel burning to fight the chill of the evening. It seemed as if we were in another country. We finally entered a neighborhood that was not guarded. The carnage is indescribable. It is comparable to the aftermath of 9/11 or some kind of bomb going off. Trees are knocked over, houses and cars (many of which have flat tires or no tires at all) are gutted, debris is everywhere along with signs advertising house gutting. Everything looks to be covered by some type of fine white dust. Some of the appliances in the street have advertisements for gutting and salvage spray painted on them. There were no lights in these neighborhoods. They were complete ghost towns. Not a human being in sight. Stray cats roaming everywhere. Many houses had messages spray painted on them requesting the rescue of pets presumably trapped inside. Others had messages painted by rescuers indicating the number of dead animals found in the house (one place had 6 dead cats inside of it). All had a cross painted on them. In the upper right corner of this cross was painted the date that rescuers inspected the house. The bottom left corner showed the number of dead found inside the house. All of the houses that I could see had zero dead inside. We left the neighborhood after touring several blocks for fear of arousing suspicion. I’m sure there is still fear of looters in these neighborhoods.
After leaving the residential neighborhoods, we drove into downtown New Orleans. There is a very heavy police and military presence downtown. Military police vehicles are parked in the median of the main drag every few blocks. About 60 percent of the traffic lights downtown are now working. Some are completely off, others are blinking yellow. Tried to drive into the French quarter but found it blocked off. We noticed a large crowd of people on Bourbon street. There was one downed palm tree in the median.
Tomorrow, I think we are going to Vieux Carrere church in the French Quarter. Lord, please be with these people and the city. It’s one thing to see this destruction on TV but to actually drive through it…well, as I said, it’s indescribable.
Personal feeling: Tired. Should have been asleep hours ago. Going there now. P.S. There are help wanted signs absolutely everywhere around here. All of the employees have left.
Tuesday, 11/22/2005 -- Day 3
Philly team left for Gulf Port early this morning. Instead of going to Vieux Carrier, we spent the day taking the stuff from yesterdays demo work to the dump with Pastor James. It was the hardest day of work so far. My eyes got really irritated and almost swelled shut. Luckily, the ladies once again saved the day by going to the store and buying eyewash while we were working. Our work paid off though and by the end of the day, the huge pile of insulation, dry wall, nails, etc from the house was safely deposited at the local dump. After finishing our work and risking a very awkward encounter by taking showers during the daylight, we also packed up and began the journey to Gulfport Miss.
On the way to Gulfport, we stopped to eat and explore the French Quarter. Had a catfish po’ boy sandwich at a restaurant called Desire and bought some cheap souvenirs on Bourbon street. After that, we walked around the French quarter. Found the motel where Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones had filmed the movie “Double Jeopardy” . The police presence in the French quarter is very heavy. Every corner has at least four officers at it. Saw only one military vehicle in the Quarter but police from several jurisdictions (Including New York) were there. Bourbon street looked completely recovered. Gift shops, restaurants, etc. are for the most part open for business again. The t-shirt industry is certainly taking advantage of this years hurricanes. Many t-shirts are blasting FEMA (or Federal Employees Missing Again, as the shirts put it) for their slow response to the hurricanes. Found it slightly upsetting that people were using the tragedy for gain by selling such tasteless shirts (some were really kind of nasty). After having a beignet we walked back to the vans and began our journey to Gulfport. It looks like a disaster movie around New Orleans. Military checkpoints are everywhere, police are going every which way with their lights flashing. It’s almost surreal. We crossed over lake Ponchatrain (on the worlds longest bridge). On the way there, we drove past a car lot that looked abandoned. The lights were on there but there were 60-70 cars all covered with the fine dust that I described in yesterdays entry. Very eerie.
The devastation in Gulf Port is much worse than that in New Orleans. According to a soldier at a check point, the storm surge covered a two story building that was standing next to us. There is a really depressed feeling to this town. New Orleans seems like it’s hurting but recovering. Gulfport, on the other hand, just seems stuck at hurting. It’s dreary. The destruction here is almost sickening. We will see more of it tomorrow.
We arrived at St. James Baptist church just a few minutes ago. Carlos, the man who let us in, toughed out the storm. The accommodations here are not nearly as good as they were in New Orleans. There are two showers for thirty plus workers. The sleeping arrangements are cramped. I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. We’re supposed to be ready to go to work at 8 AM. We are in a dark place here. I’m very tired. Need to pray… Need to sleep.
Philly team left for Gulf Port early this morning. Instead of going to Vieux Carrier, we spent the day taking the stuff from yesterdays demo work to the dump with Pastor James. It was the hardest day of work so far. My eyes got really irritated and almost swelled shut. Luckily, the ladies once again saved the day by going to the store and buying eyewash while we were working. Our work paid off though and by the end of the day, the huge pile of insulation, dry wall, nails, etc from the house was safely deposited at the local dump. After finishing our work and risking a very awkward encounter by taking showers during the daylight, we also packed up and began the journey to Gulfport Miss.
On the way to Gulfport, we stopped to eat and explore the French Quarter. Had a catfish po’ boy sandwich at a restaurant called Desire and bought some cheap souvenirs on Bourbon street. After that, we walked around the French quarter. Found the motel where Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones had filmed the movie “Double Jeopardy” . The police presence in the French quarter is very heavy. Every corner has at least four officers at it. Saw only one military vehicle in the Quarter but police from several jurisdictions (Including New York) were there. Bourbon street looked completely recovered. Gift shops, restaurants, etc. are for the most part open for business again. The t-shirt industry is certainly taking advantage of this years hurricanes. Many t-shirts are blasting FEMA (or Federal Employees Missing Again, as the shirts put it) for their slow response to the hurricanes. Found it slightly upsetting that people were using the tragedy for gain by selling such tasteless shirts (some were really kind of nasty). After having a beignet we walked back to the vans and began our journey to Gulfport. It looks like a disaster movie around New Orleans. Military checkpoints are everywhere, police are going every which way with their lights flashing. It’s almost surreal. We crossed over lake Ponchatrain (on the worlds longest bridge). On the way there, we drove past a car lot that looked abandoned. The lights were on there but there were 60-70 cars all covered with the fine dust that I described in yesterdays entry. Very eerie.
The devastation in Gulf Port is much worse than that in New Orleans. According to a soldier at a check point, the storm surge covered a two story building that was standing next to us. There is a really depressed feeling to this town. New Orleans seems like it’s hurting but recovering. Gulfport, on the other hand, just seems stuck at hurting. It’s dreary. The destruction here is almost sickening. We will see more of it tomorrow.
We arrived at St. James Baptist church just a few minutes ago. Carlos, the man who let us in, toughed out the storm. The accommodations here are not nearly as good as they were in New Orleans. There are two showers for thirty plus workers. The sleeping arrangements are cramped. I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. We’re supposed to be ready to go to work at 8 AM. We are in a dark place here. I’m very tired. Need to pray… Need to sleep.
Wednesday, 11/23/2005 -- Day 4
I don’t think that catfish sandwich settled very well with me. I woke up in the middle of the night with an awful stomachache. I prayed that I would feel better and then fell back to sleep. By the grace of God, when I woke up this morning the stomachache had gone away and I was feeling fine.
The daylight has revealed just how devastated the town of Gulfport is. We gutted the house of a man named Benny today. It was very sobering. It was a great honor to be able to pray for this man as a group before and after we worked. Damage to Bennys home was extensive. There was a waterline up to my shoulders (about four feet) in most rooms. The floor was buckled in many places and in the kitchen, the floor had a hole in it so we could not even go in there. Upon entering the house, we found family pictures strewn on the living room floor. Again, it’s one thing to see the devastation on the news but when you walk into one of these houses and see pictures of the family lying in ruins, that’s when it starts to become personal. My first response was to turn away from the pictures. For some reason I felt like I shouldn’t be looking at them. By the time I went back to the living room, someone else had taken the pictures away. As we worked, we took ruined items, drywall, etc out to huge trash pile in the front yard (just about every house in the area has one of these piles in front of it.) As I worked, every once in awhile, I would look up out a window or something to see the lone figure of Benny sifting through the pile trying to find anything that could be salvaged. It was a sad sight to see. As you can imagine, he found very little.
Bennys wife and child have moved to the East coast so that his son could go to school. Benny is staying with relatives in the area so that he can continue to work and try to rebuild his home. The home is so damaged that it may be a total loss. He has a FEMA trailer on the property but the keys that FEMA gave him to the trailer do not work so he can’t get into it. He’s found it just about impossible to get the situation with the keys straightened out. Luckily he has those relatives to stay with.
At lunch, we toured a wildlife refuge close to Bennys house that had been devastated by the storm. Garbage and pieces of buildings were strewn all about the refuge. On an earlier walk through the refuge, Tiffany says she saw a Pepsi machine among the trees. The trees…well, here’s the best way that I can describe the trees: When I was a kid, my dad and I used to trim the bushes and trees in my parents back yard. We would then take all of the branches and leaves that we trimmed and dump them into a big pile on the side of the house. The trees in this wildlife refuge looked like a big giant version of one of these brush piles. The branches were tangled up, many of the trees were on their sides either broken or uprooted entirely. Surprisingly, the boardwalk that led into the refuge was in very good condition for about 200 yards back.
After we finished the work on Bennys house, he was very grateful. I remember him saying, “I don’t know how I can thank you all.” After talking to him for a little while, we prayed together and then said goodbye before gathering our tools and heading back to St. James.
The church that we are staying at (Saint James Baptist) is a black southern Baptist church. The pastor, Eddie Hartwell, has been serving food to the community ever since the storm.
We were joined today by a team from Arkansas. The leader of that team, Vic, seems like a really warm and friendly person. When we came in from work, he made it very clear that his team was here to serve us.
We had an awesome church service tonight. Pastor Hartwell spoke as did Dave from Philly and another Pastor from the area. It was a great message about letting our light shine to those around us. Dave led us through the book of Nehemiah and used Nehemiah as an example of the rebuilding of a city (Nehemiah, remember rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.) He talked about the importance of prayer. Pastor Hartwell also said some great things about coming out of our comfort zone.
Sitting next to me in the service was an amazing woman who the congregation of this church apparently refers to as Mother Robinson. She was working hard at agreeing with the speakers as they spoke. It seemed like after every phrase that was uttered from up front there was an “AMEN!” or “PRAISE THE LORD JESUS!” Coming from Mother Robinson. I think it would be fun to bring her back to Good Shepherd for a Stu Webber sermon. He’d love her. I really hope I get to be there when those two meet in Heaven.
Anyway, we got to talk to Mother Robinson after the service. She’s 68 years old and had her home destroyed in the storm, yet this woman who comes up to about my chest has so much joy in her relationship with Christ. She loves Jesus so much. I’ll never forget her telling of the day after the storm. Pastor Hartwell has a meat smoker outside of his church (This thing is a beast! Easily as tall as a house!) Mother Robinson talked about how she had waited out the storm at a relatives house inland and how she helped to serve food to needy people the day after the storm. She saw the smoke coming up from that big smoker and as she tells it, “The Pastor didn’t have to tell Mother Robinson to come help!” Apparently, in those first few days after the storm, it was just her and Pastor Hartwell serving since everyone else had left the area. She talked about the ingenuity that was required of her when all the food had been used up except a sack of potatoes and a brick of cheese. Mother Robinson, thinking quickly, mashed up the potatoes and then boiled them up with the cheese. According to her, she and the Pastor labored over what they should call the new dish before settling on “Cheese Taters.” “Those people ate those potatoes like they was steak.” She told us with a smile. Mother Robinson also talked about how the Lord had blessed her with a new house since the storm. Apparently a team like ours had miraculously managed to build her a nice new house in a short amount of time.* She told us that she had never owned a dishwasher or a clothes dryer until now (she had eight children who’s clothes she had hung out on a clothesline day after day for Lord only knows how many years). It seems that she also owed $6000 on her old house and somehow that debt got erased. “I’m goin’ to meet Jesus debt free!” she told us with a contagious laugh. “Praise God!”
This woman was just so full of the Holy Spirit. Very loving toward other people. You look at her and you see Christ. I could have listened to her for hours. I really hope she comes to Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I’m really making great friends on the Philly team. There’s Sarah -- seventeen years old, saved a few years ago. Also Frank, Susanne, Pastor Dave, the other Dave, Pastor Mark etc. All of them are great folks. I got to share my testimony today with Sarah and Susanne and also had some great conversation time with Frank. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving -- Another big day.
* I would later find Mother Robinsons story in the October 2005 edition of the Christian Science Monitor. The article describes how a missions team built her new house from the ground up in a mere seven days!
I don’t think that catfish sandwich settled very well with me. I woke up in the middle of the night with an awful stomachache. I prayed that I would feel better and then fell back to sleep. By the grace of God, when I woke up this morning the stomachache had gone away and I was feeling fine.
The daylight has revealed just how devastated the town of Gulfport is. We gutted the house of a man named Benny today. It was very sobering. It was a great honor to be able to pray for this man as a group before and after we worked. Damage to Bennys home was extensive. There was a waterline up to my shoulders (about four feet) in most rooms. The floor was buckled in many places and in the kitchen, the floor had a hole in it so we could not even go in there. Upon entering the house, we found family pictures strewn on the living room floor. Again, it’s one thing to see the devastation on the news but when you walk into one of these houses and see pictures of the family lying in ruins, that’s when it starts to become personal. My first response was to turn away from the pictures. For some reason I felt like I shouldn’t be looking at them. By the time I went back to the living room, someone else had taken the pictures away. As we worked, we took ruined items, drywall, etc out to huge trash pile in the front yard (just about every house in the area has one of these piles in front of it.) As I worked, every once in awhile, I would look up out a window or something to see the lone figure of Benny sifting through the pile trying to find anything that could be salvaged. It was a sad sight to see. As you can imagine, he found very little.
Bennys wife and child have moved to the East coast so that his son could go to school. Benny is staying with relatives in the area so that he can continue to work and try to rebuild his home. The home is so damaged that it may be a total loss. He has a FEMA trailer on the property but the keys that FEMA gave him to the trailer do not work so he can’t get into it. He’s found it just about impossible to get the situation with the keys straightened out. Luckily he has those relatives to stay with.
At lunch, we toured a wildlife refuge close to Bennys house that had been devastated by the storm. Garbage and pieces of buildings were strewn all about the refuge. On an earlier walk through the refuge, Tiffany says she saw a Pepsi machine among the trees. The trees…well, here’s the best way that I can describe the trees: When I was a kid, my dad and I used to trim the bushes and trees in my parents back yard. We would then take all of the branches and leaves that we trimmed and dump them into a big pile on the side of the house. The trees in this wildlife refuge looked like a big giant version of one of these brush piles. The branches were tangled up, many of the trees were on their sides either broken or uprooted entirely. Surprisingly, the boardwalk that led into the refuge was in very good condition for about 200 yards back.
After we finished the work on Bennys house, he was very grateful. I remember him saying, “I don’t know how I can thank you all.” After talking to him for a little while, we prayed together and then said goodbye before gathering our tools and heading back to St. James.
The church that we are staying at (Saint James Baptist) is a black southern Baptist church. The pastor, Eddie Hartwell, has been serving food to the community ever since the storm.
We were joined today by a team from Arkansas. The leader of that team, Vic, seems like a really warm and friendly person. When we came in from work, he made it very clear that his team was here to serve us.
We had an awesome church service tonight. Pastor Hartwell spoke as did Dave from Philly and another Pastor from the area. It was a great message about letting our light shine to those around us. Dave led us through the book of Nehemiah and used Nehemiah as an example of the rebuilding of a city (Nehemiah, remember rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.) He talked about the importance of prayer. Pastor Hartwell also said some great things about coming out of our comfort zone.
Sitting next to me in the service was an amazing woman who the congregation of this church apparently refers to as Mother Robinson. She was working hard at agreeing with the speakers as they spoke. It seemed like after every phrase that was uttered from up front there was an “AMEN!” or “PRAISE THE LORD JESUS!” Coming from Mother Robinson. I think it would be fun to bring her back to Good Shepherd for a Stu Webber sermon. He’d love her. I really hope I get to be there when those two meet in Heaven.
Anyway, we got to talk to Mother Robinson after the service. She’s 68 years old and had her home destroyed in the storm, yet this woman who comes up to about my chest has so much joy in her relationship with Christ. She loves Jesus so much. I’ll never forget her telling of the day after the storm. Pastor Hartwell has a meat smoker outside of his church (This thing is a beast! Easily as tall as a house!) Mother Robinson talked about how she had waited out the storm at a relatives house inland and how she helped to serve food to needy people the day after the storm. She saw the smoke coming up from that big smoker and as she tells it, “The Pastor didn’t have to tell Mother Robinson to come help!” Apparently, in those first few days after the storm, it was just her and Pastor Hartwell serving since everyone else had left the area. She talked about the ingenuity that was required of her when all the food had been used up except a sack of potatoes and a brick of cheese. Mother Robinson, thinking quickly, mashed up the potatoes and then boiled them up with the cheese. According to her, she and the Pastor labored over what they should call the new dish before settling on “Cheese Taters.” “Those people ate those potatoes like they was steak.” She told us with a smile. Mother Robinson also talked about how the Lord had blessed her with a new house since the storm. Apparently a team like ours had miraculously managed to build her a nice new house in a short amount of time.* She told us that she had never owned a dishwasher or a clothes dryer until now (she had eight children who’s clothes she had hung out on a clothesline day after day for Lord only knows how many years). It seems that she also owed $6000 on her old house and somehow that debt got erased. “I’m goin’ to meet Jesus debt free!” she told us with a contagious laugh. “Praise God!”
This woman was just so full of the Holy Spirit. Very loving toward other people. You look at her and you see Christ. I could have listened to her for hours. I really hope she comes to Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I’m really making great friends on the Philly team. There’s Sarah -- seventeen years old, saved a few years ago. Also Frank, Susanne, Pastor Dave, the other Dave, Pastor Mark etc. All of them are great folks. I got to share my testimony today with Sarah and Susanne and also had some great conversation time with Frank. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving -- Another big day.
* I would later find Mother Robinsons story in the October 2005 edition of the Christian Science Monitor. The article describes how a missions team built her new house from the ground up in a mere seven days!
Thursday, 11/24/2005 -- Day 5, Thanksgiving Day
We did demolition work on two more houses today (actually on three but I was only involved in two). One of the homeowners, Mr. Jones, was home. He’s an elderly gentleman. Very quiet and gracious. We prayed with him before and after the job like we did for Benny. He also graciously agreed to pose for several pictures with the team. The demolition work on all houses today was very easy. They are not as extensively damaged (although the damage is still heavy) and by now, we as a team have gotten better at what we’re doing.
We also made it down to the waterfront in the neighboring town of Biloxi. This was a minor miracle since most roads to the waterfront are still blocked off by the National Guard. We found one road though that got us to across the highway from the beach. I dipped my hand in the Gulf of Mexico and saw the damage that was done to the nearby shorefront casinos. This damage, of course is extensive. I can’t believe that those buildings are even standing anymore. Saw some of the offshore floating casinos that have been washed ashore. We walked a little bit on the beach which is strewn with all kinds of debris (chairs, stuff from the adjacent souvenir shops, etc.) I picked up a few shells and some Mardi Gras beads. Justin got a torn up hat with the tag still on it from one of the gift shops. After souvenir hunting for awhile, we decided to make our way back to the van. As we were walking across the highway (pockets bulging with loot, me with beads hanging from my hand) a police officer sounded his siren at us and said over his loudspeaker “This highway is closed to pedestrian traffic. You are subject to arrest. GET OFF THE HIGHWAY!” At about the same time, Matt and Jaime, who were lagging behind us, got stopped by a person from one of the casinos who informed them that they were on a private beach, owned by the casinos and that they too were subject to arrest. They were also informed that there had been armed guards and video cameras watching our every move ever since we walked onto the beach. It seems that when the storm came through, it tore a bunch of gold coins out of the casinos and washed them out to sea. The casinos were working on recovering their money but they were afraid of looters. So along we came in our minivan and started poking around the beach, not knowing that we were walking right through the middle of a high security restricted area. And that’s how we almost got arrested for looting on our mission trip.
So after our encounter on the beach, we decided that it was time to leave the waterfront somewhat quickly. On the way back to the church, we drove through some of the devastated neighborhoods on the opposite side of the military check points. It was the worst destruction I’ve seen thus far. One car that we saw looked as if it had been made of paper and a giant hand had just picked it up and squeezed. Houses have been reduced to rubble for block after block after block. Stray dogs are running everywhere. Some have begun running in packs. All look desperately ill with their ribs showing and hair falling out. One of them was a gray dog with patches of hair missing. His face looked like an evil version of Yoda from Star Wars. He literally looked like a hell hound. I cannot describe with words the carnage in this area. Hell came to the gulf coast with Katrina and some of it is still there.
When we got back to the church, we all got showers (another miracle) before having an awesome Thanksgiving dinner complete with fried turkey and stuffing.
Met a man named Terry* tonight. Terry is a former Drill instructor in the army however you wouldn’t know it by his personality. He’s very friendly, quick to laugh and extremely outgoing. He was dressed in a suit and obviously takes great pride in his appearance. As the evening wore on, Terry began to look kind of sad. When we asked him what was wrong, he shared that he and his wife had just separated. She was spending Thanksgiving up in New York with her parents and Terry is obviously heartbroken about what is happening to his marriage. We prayed with him and then began playing cards. Terry quickly perked up to his old self and began joking around again and at least on the surface, having a good time. Jaime, Sarah, one of the kids from Arkansas, and I stayed up with him until about 1:30 AM playing cards and chatting. I can relate to Terry because in another life, I was constantly lonely. I can tell you that when you’re alone on the holidays, the greatest gift you can receive is to have someone stay up with you late. I praise God that we were able to do that for Terry.
We also met Randall* tonight. Randall is an elderly gentleman who uses a walker. He came to the church tonight for some food but he didn’t eat a bite while he was there. Instead, he just sat at our table and talked with us. He told us a bunch of jokes but we could understand only about half of what Randall said. Luckily, he would start laughing at his own jokes so we knew when it was time to laugh. It was a lot of fun having him there. Randall has some hard times of his own ahead of him. He’s going in for back surgery this week and has to have a knee replaced. I really think that his time with us made his Thanksgiving. I thank the Lord that He allowed us to minister to these two folks. Tomorrow, we drive back to New Orleans.
* Name has been changed to protect privacy.
We did demolition work on two more houses today (actually on three but I was only involved in two). One of the homeowners, Mr. Jones, was home. He’s an elderly gentleman. Very quiet and gracious. We prayed with him before and after the job like we did for Benny. He also graciously agreed to pose for several pictures with the team. The demolition work on all houses today was very easy. They are not as extensively damaged (although the damage is still heavy) and by now, we as a team have gotten better at what we’re doing.
We also made it down to the waterfront in the neighboring town of Biloxi. This was a minor miracle since most roads to the waterfront are still blocked off by the National Guard. We found one road though that got us to across the highway from the beach. I dipped my hand in the Gulf of Mexico and saw the damage that was done to the nearby shorefront casinos. This damage, of course is extensive. I can’t believe that those buildings are even standing anymore. Saw some of the offshore floating casinos that have been washed ashore. We walked a little bit on the beach which is strewn with all kinds of debris (chairs, stuff from the adjacent souvenir shops, etc.) I picked up a few shells and some Mardi Gras beads. Justin got a torn up hat with the tag still on it from one of the gift shops. After souvenir hunting for awhile, we decided to make our way back to the van. As we were walking across the highway (pockets bulging with loot, me with beads hanging from my hand) a police officer sounded his siren at us and said over his loudspeaker “This highway is closed to pedestrian traffic. You are subject to arrest. GET OFF THE HIGHWAY!” At about the same time, Matt and Jaime, who were lagging behind us, got stopped by a person from one of the casinos who informed them that they were on a private beach, owned by the casinos and that they too were subject to arrest. They were also informed that there had been armed guards and video cameras watching our every move ever since we walked onto the beach. It seems that when the storm came through, it tore a bunch of gold coins out of the casinos and washed them out to sea. The casinos were working on recovering their money but they were afraid of looters. So along we came in our minivan and started poking around the beach, not knowing that we were walking right through the middle of a high security restricted area. And that’s how we almost got arrested for looting on our mission trip.
So after our encounter on the beach, we decided that it was time to leave the waterfront somewhat quickly. On the way back to the church, we drove through some of the devastated neighborhoods on the opposite side of the military check points. It was the worst destruction I’ve seen thus far. One car that we saw looked as if it had been made of paper and a giant hand had just picked it up and squeezed. Houses have been reduced to rubble for block after block after block. Stray dogs are running everywhere. Some have begun running in packs. All look desperately ill with their ribs showing and hair falling out. One of them was a gray dog with patches of hair missing. His face looked like an evil version of Yoda from Star Wars. He literally looked like a hell hound. I cannot describe with words the carnage in this area. Hell came to the gulf coast with Katrina and some of it is still there.
When we got back to the church, we all got showers (another miracle) before having an awesome Thanksgiving dinner complete with fried turkey and stuffing.
Met a man named Terry* tonight. Terry is a former Drill instructor in the army however you wouldn’t know it by his personality. He’s very friendly, quick to laugh and extremely outgoing. He was dressed in a suit and obviously takes great pride in his appearance. As the evening wore on, Terry began to look kind of sad. When we asked him what was wrong, he shared that he and his wife had just separated. She was spending Thanksgiving up in New York with her parents and Terry is obviously heartbroken about what is happening to his marriage. We prayed with him and then began playing cards. Terry quickly perked up to his old self and began joking around again and at least on the surface, having a good time. Jaime, Sarah, one of the kids from Arkansas, and I stayed up with him until about 1:30 AM playing cards and chatting. I can relate to Terry because in another life, I was constantly lonely. I can tell you that when you’re alone on the holidays, the greatest gift you can receive is to have someone stay up with you late. I praise God that we were able to do that for Terry.
We also met Randall* tonight. Randall is an elderly gentleman who uses a walker. He came to the church tonight for some food but he didn’t eat a bite while he was there. Instead, he just sat at our table and talked with us. He told us a bunch of jokes but we could understand only about half of what Randall said. Luckily, he would start laughing at his own jokes so we knew when it was time to laugh. It was a lot of fun having him there. Randall has some hard times of his own ahead of him. He’s going in for back surgery this week and has to have a knee replaced. I really think that his time with us made his Thanksgiving. I thank the Lord that He allowed us to minister to these two folks. Tomorrow, we drive back to New Orleans.
* Name has been changed to protect privacy.
Friday, 11/25/2005 -- Day 6
We did no work at all today. This morning, we said goodbye to the Philly team and the Saint James staff. We had breakfast at IHOP before doing one last damage tour of Mississippi. We got another stern lecture from a police officer at a checkpoint who told us to “stay off the highway or we’d get in trouble.” The checkpoints around the casinos are very close together and very restrictive. As we moved away from the casino zone (and the money that needed to be recovered) the checkpoints got farther apart and less restrictive. Interesting. After getting kicked off of the highway, we toured through the neighborhoods again taking pictures of the devastation (we hope to use these pictures to educate people in Oregon about the need that is still down there). Some of the houses in these neighborhoods have been moved completely off of their foundations. One was pushed by the storm against a couple of trees in the front yard which are now embedded in the front of the house. In a couple of areas, people have put up American flags amid the rubble.
After touring this area, we left Gulfport and toured a small town just to the west. This town was where the hurricane hit the hardest. Whole blocks of houses were gone here. Not just in shambles, not just collapsed, but completely gone. There were nothing but debris fields in this area. Typically, you would see a driveway and maybe a piece of cardboard nailed to a tree telling what address that plot of land used to be. In one area, there were what looked like thousands of plastic bags caught up in a bunch of trees. We wondered about this until we discovered nearby the remains of a Wal-Mart with most of its walls missing and realized that the plastic bags had been blown out of the store when the storm came through.
After a short tour through this neighborhood, we drove back to New Orleans. We decided that after all of the hard work we had done (and also to spare Riverside Baptist from having to put us up for another night.) it would be appropriate to pool our money together and pay for a room at the Sheridan downtown. I know… rough life. We went to the French quarter one more time and ate dinner (I had some Jambalaya -- the only complaint is that they could have cleaned the shrimp). After that, we did some shopping and yes, I’ll confess it, I bought one of those darned Katrina t-shirts. It’s a classy one though. It just says “Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Team 2005”. I felt a little dirty as I bought it but looking back at it, I’m glad I did. I got a lot of practice bouncing my eyes away from things that I shouldn’t look at. There are pictures of topless women right out in the open as you walk down Bourbon street. Only in New Orleans… It’s insane there.
So about 2 hours ago, Justin decided that he wanted to walk back to the hotel room. I didn’t want him to walk alone so I went with him. Tiffany, Melanie, Kris, Matt and Jaime stayed out a little longer. Just a few minutes ago, I got an urge to go down to the lobby. There I found Tiffany, Melanie, Kris, Matt, and Jaime at a table praying. I joined them for the end of their prayer time and that is basically how we are going to end this trip -- with prayer. Appropriate, I think.
Tomorrow we fly back home. I don’t really want to go back. It’s going to be hard to resume a normal life after this week. It’s weird but after only a week together, these people from Good Shepherd along with the Philly team have become like family to me. When a group of people goes through an experience like we’ve gone through, it tends to bring you together quickly I guess. I could not have asked for a better team to work with. This week, we did demolition work on five houses. That’s five homes ready to be repaired by teams who will come in after us -- five families on the road to recovery. It doesn’t seem like much but here’s the thing: Thousands of teams just like ours are streaming into the Gulf Coast from churches all over the country. On this trip alone, we met teams from Kentucky, California, Philadelphia, Arkansas and a team made up of members from several different states. They’re rebuilding houses, serving meals, offering encouragement and comforting those who are hurting. Let me set the record straight right here: It will probably take years but the Gulf Coast will recover and when it does, it will not be because of FEMA or the Red Cross or any other Federal Organization. I’m not badmouthing these agencies. They’re doing a lot of good down here but on these pages you’ve read about the destruction that has taken place. This disaster is too big for any agency or even any group of agencies to handle. This is a God sized task. The Gulf Coast is going to recover because the Body of Christ pulled together and with the Lords supernatural help, brought Christs healing to this region. It’s already happening and I can tell you, from conversations that I have had with Theda, Dave, and others that the Body of Christ has no plans to slow down its efforts.
Thank you Lord that I got to have a tiny part in all of this.
We did no work at all today. This morning, we said goodbye to the Philly team and the Saint James staff. We had breakfast at IHOP before doing one last damage tour of Mississippi. We got another stern lecture from a police officer at a checkpoint who told us to “stay off the highway or we’d get in trouble.” The checkpoints around the casinos are very close together and very restrictive. As we moved away from the casino zone (and the money that needed to be recovered) the checkpoints got farther apart and less restrictive. Interesting. After getting kicked off of the highway, we toured through the neighborhoods again taking pictures of the devastation (we hope to use these pictures to educate people in Oregon about the need that is still down there). Some of the houses in these neighborhoods have been moved completely off of their foundations. One was pushed by the storm against a couple of trees in the front yard which are now embedded in the front of the house. In a couple of areas, people have put up American flags amid the rubble.
After touring this area, we left Gulfport and toured a small town just to the west. This town was where the hurricane hit the hardest. Whole blocks of houses were gone here. Not just in shambles, not just collapsed, but completely gone. There were nothing but debris fields in this area. Typically, you would see a driveway and maybe a piece of cardboard nailed to a tree telling what address that plot of land used to be. In one area, there were what looked like thousands of plastic bags caught up in a bunch of trees. We wondered about this until we discovered nearby the remains of a Wal-Mart with most of its walls missing and realized that the plastic bags had been blown out of the store when the storm came through.
After a short tour through this neighborhood, we drove back to New Orleans. We decided that after all of the hard work we had done (and also to spare Riverside Baptist from having to put us up for another night.) it would be appropriate to pool our money together and pay for a room at the Sheridan downtown. I know… rough life. We went to the French quarter one more time and ate dinner (I had some Jambalaya -- the only complaint is that they could have cleaned the shrimp). After that, we did some shopping and yes, I’ll confess it, I bought one of those darned Katrina t-shirts. It’s a classy one though. It just says “Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Team 2005”. I felt a little dirty as I bought it but looking back at it, I’m glad I did. I got a lot of practice bouncing my eyes away from things that I shouldn’t look at. There are pictures of topless women right out in the open as you walk down Bourbon street. Only in New Orleans… It’s insane there.
So about 2 hours ago, Justin decided that he wanted to walk back to the hotel room. I didn’t want him to walk alone so I went with him. Tiffany, Melanie, Kris, Matt and Jaime stayed out a little longer. Just a few minutes ago, I got an urge to go down to the lobby. There I found Tiffany, Melanie, Kris, Matt, and Jaime at a table praying. I joined them for the end of their prayer time and that is basically how we are going to end this trip -- with prayer. Appropriate, I think.
Tomorrow we fly back home. I don’t really want to go back. It’s going to be hard to resume a normal life after this week. It’s weird but after only a week together, these people from Good Shepherd along with the Philly team have become like family to me. When a group of people goes through an experience like we’ve gone through, it tends to bring you together quickly I guess. I could not have asked for a better team to work with. This week, we did demolition work on five houses. That’s five homes ready to be repaired by teams who will come in after us -- five families on the road to recovery. It doesn’t seem like much but here’s the thing: Thousands of teams just like ours are streaming into the Gulf Coast from churches all over the country. On this trip alone, we met teams from Kentucky, California, Philadelphia, Arkansas and a team made up of members from several different states. They’re rebuilding houses, serving meals, offering encouragement and comforting those who are hurting. Let me set the record straight right here: It will probably take years but the Gulf Coast will recover and when it does, it will not be because of FEMA or the Red Cross or any other Federal Organization. I’m not badmouthing these agencies. They’re doing a lot of good down here but on these pages you’ve read about the destruction that has taken place. This disaster is too big for any agency or even any group of agencies to handle. This is a God sized task. The Gulf Coast is going to recover because the Body of Christ pulled together and with the Lords supernatural help, brought Christs healing to this region. It’s already happening and I can tell you, from conversations that I have had with Theda, Dave, and others that the Body of Christ has no plans to slow down its efforts.
Thank you Lord that I got to have a tiny part in all of this.
Epilogue
I’m going to keep this last part short and sweet. However I want to make sure that everyone who reads this takes home two major points: Number one -- Even though the media has moved on to other things and Katrina is now considered “Old News”, things are not all right in the Gulf Coast. There is still a HUGE need. As the body of Christ, we need to realize that we are in this for the long haul. It won’t be in a matter of weeks or even months that healing will be brought to this area. It will take years for normalcy to return to many areas of the gulf coast. If you’re consistently praying for this area and giving financially, I want to encourage you to keep doing it just as much as you were in the weeks after the disaster. If you’re not, now is the time to start praying about what God would have you do to help. I believe that we all have a role to play in this effort whether it be praying, giving, or going.
Point Number two: When I got back from New Orleans, my friend was telling me about an article that she read with the headline “New Orleans to the United States: ‘Have you forgotten us?’” When she told me about that, I was able to confidently look her in the eye and say, “I can’t speak for the nation but as for the Body of Christ, the answer is definitely ‘No!’” God is doing amazing things through his Church in Louisiana and Mississippi. I think for example about Mother Robinsons house. When I told one man at my church Mother Robinsons story, he gave me a disbelieving look and said, “How did they get that house built so fast?” I don’t want to come down on this man because I confess that I had to refer to the Christian Science Monitor article (see footnote under Wednesdays entry) to make sure that I had really got my story straight. The man at church was absolutely right: under normal circumstances, Mother Robinson getting a new house so quickly would be impossible. However the circumstances in the Gulf Coast right now are anything but normal. Ladies and gentlemen, God is doing absolutely amazing things among the rubble and the heartbreak of Louisiana and Mississippi. In this disaster, we have seen Gods power. It’s been spread all over the evening news for months and months. But what most people don’t know about is the mercy that God is showing at the same time. People are coming to Christ by the thousands. Areas that were once flooded by water are now being flooded by volunteers from thousands of churches across the United States and Canada. These volunteers are letting God use them to bring healing to the region one person, one family, and one home at a time. Individuals and groups of Christians are working far beyond their capabilities and no one seems to be able to explain in human terms how they’re getting so much done in so little time. The church has, in fact, become so effective at meeting the needs of these people that in many cases, FEMA and other agencies are looking to the churches for direction! So as hard as it is, try not to greet stories such as Mother Robinsons with disbelief. Just remember those words of Jesus, “With men it is impossible but with God, all things are possible.”
I hope that in this journal, I was able to impart some idea of what is going on in the Gulf States. Let me just say again that I believe everyone in the body of Christ is called to play a roll in this operation. God is not going to use FEMA, the Red Cross, or any other agency to bring healing to that region. He’s going to use His people. That, friends, means you and me. Thanks for reading.
I’m going to keep this last part short and sweet. However I want to make sure that everyone who reads this takes home two major points: Number one -- Even though the media has moved on to other things and Katrina is now considered “Old News”, things are not all right in the Gulf Coast. There is still a HUGE need. As the body of Christ, we need to realize that we are in this for the long haul. It won’t be in a matter of weeks or even months that healing will be brought to this area. It will take years for normalcy to return to many areas of the gulf coast. If you’re consistently praying for this area and giving financially, I want to encourage you to keep doing it just as much as you were in the weeks after the disaster. If you’re not, now is the time to start praying about what God would have you do to help. I believe that we all have a role to play in this effort whether it be praying, giving, or going.
Point Number two: When I got back from New Orleans, my friend was telling me about an article that she read with the headline “New Orleans to the United States: ‘Have you forgotten us?’” When she told me about that, I was able to confidently look her in the eye and say, “I can’t speak for the nation but as for the Body of Christ, the answer is definitely ‘No!’” God is doing amazing things through his Church in Louisiana and Mississippi. I think for example about Mother Robinsons house. When I told one man at my church Mother Robinsons story, he gave me a disbelieving look and said, “How did they get that house built so fast?” I don’t want to come down on this man because I confess that I had to refer to the Christian Science Monitor article (see footnote under Wednesdays entry) to make sure that I had really got my story straight. The man at church was absolutely right: under normal circumstances, Mother Robinson getting a new house so quickly would be impossible. However the circumstances in the Gulf Coast right now are anything but normal. Ladies and gentlemen, God is doing absolutely amazing things among the rubble and the heartbreak of Louisiana and Mississippi. In this disaster, we have seen Gods power. It’s been spread all over the evening news for months and months. But what most people don’t know about is the mercy that God is showing at the same time. People are coming to Christ by the thousands. Areas that were once flooded by water are now being flooded by volunteers from thousands of churches across the United States and Canada. These volunteers are letting God use them to bring healing to the region one person, one family, and one home at a time. Individuals and groups of Christians are working far beyond their capabilities and no one seems to be able to explain in human terms how they’re getting so much done in so little time. The church has, in fact, become so effective at meeting the needs of these people that in many cases, FEMA and other agencies are looking to the churches for direction! So as hard as it is, try not to greet stories such as Mother Robinsons with disbelief. Just remember those words of Jesus, “With men it is impossible but with God, all things are possible.”
I hope that in this journal, I was able to impart some idea of what is going on in the Gulf States. Let me just say again that I believe everyone in the body of Christ is called to play a roll in this operation. God is not going to use FEMA, the Red Cross, or any other agency to bring healing to that region. He’s going to use His people. That, friends, means you and me. Thanks for reading.
Monday, January 30, 2006
From the October 11th edition of the Christian Science Monitor.
From hurricane to hope: a new house in 7 days
By Andy Nelson
GULFPORT, MISS. – Bobby Clark sat at home in Fair Hope, Ala., watching the news. He saw the vast devastation and knew he had to act.
He called several friends, urging, "Guys, these people need help."At first, he gathered a 15-vehicle caravan, delivering food and supplies from Fair Hope some 80 miles to Pastor Eddie Hartwell Sr.'s St. James Baptist Church in Gulfport, Miss. On their next run, they brought a generator and air conditioning units.
But Bobby Clark is a builder, and he says God put him on earth to build.
Pastor Hartwell told Clark about how hurricane Katrina had demolished the home of two of his most dedicated members, Corrine "Mother" Robinson and her husband, Cleavon. After walking the property with fellow builder Dickie Brunson, Clark realized there was no way to fix the house, but they could build a new one - and they would do it in seven days.
"For two years I've wanted to do something like this for someone," Clark said.
The house came down, and the clock started ticking. Hordes of builders and workers swarmed the site, working on a schedule planned down to the hour. They built the foundation, then laid the floor in 28 minutes, and by the end of the first day the air conditioning was running - all on schedule. And on the seventh day, it was done.
Pastor Hartwell had set Sunday aside for the dedication of Mother Robinson's new home. The men of Fair Hope sat with the St. James congregation and listened as Pastor Hartwell preached about renewal. "The end of this will be better than the beginning," he told the gathering.
Everyone gathered around the front porch, as Pastor Hartwell offered a short blessing for the Robinsons as they moved into their new place.
The door slowly opened and Mother Robinson peeked inside. "HALLELUJAH!!!!" Praise Jesus!!!!" she shouted as she saw her new home for the first time. She walked on the new carpet, ran her hands over the smooth granite countertops in her kitchen and marveled at her first dishwasher.
"We couldn't have gotten a bigger blessing than a new home. These are lovely men, and they left their families to help another family," Mother Robinson said.
Pastor Hartwell has plans to bring more people in to build houses and meet the owners so they know them and become part of the family much like the men of Fair Hope did.
For Bobby Clark and his crew, the experience moved them and changed their lives. They now believe they could do it all over again."I think if our hearts are still there we're going to do it again. Just not in seven days," Bobby Clark said with a smile.
THE ROAD HOME: Volunteer Bobby Clark leads Corrine Robinson to her new house on Oct. 9, a day after it was rebuilt.
From hurricane to hope: a new house in 7 days
By Andy Nelson
GULFPORT, MISS. – Bobby Clark sat at home in Fair Hope, Ala., watching the news. He saw the vast devastation and knew he had to act.
He called several friends, urging, "Guys, these people need help."At first, he gathered a 15-vehicle caravan, delivering food and supplies from Fair Hope some 80 miles to Pastor Eddie Hartwell Sr.'s St. James Baptist Church in Gulfport, Miss. On their next run, they brought a generator and air conditioning units.
But Bobby Clark is a builder, and he says God put him on earth to build.
Pastor Hartwell told Clark about how hurricane Katrina had demolished the home of two of his most dedicated members, Corrine "Mother" Robinson and her husband, Cleavon. After walking the property with fellow builder Dickie Brunson, Clark realized there was no way to fix the house, but they could build a new one - and they would do it in seven days.
"For two years I've wanted to do something like this for someone," Clark said.
The house came down, and the clock started ticking. Hordes of builders and workers swarmed the site, working on a schedule planned down to the hour. They built the foundation, then laid the floor in 28 minutes, and by the end of the first day the air conditioning was running - all on schedule. And on the seventh day, it was done.
Pastor Hartwell had set Sunday aside for the dedication of Mother Robinson's new home. The men of Fair Hope sat with the St. James congregation and listened as Pastor Hartwell preached about renewal. "The end of this will be better than the beginning," he told the gathering.
Everyone gathered around the front porch, as Pastor Hartwell offered a short blessing for the Robinsons as they moved into their new place.
The door slowly opened and Mother Robinson peeked inside. "HALLELUJAH!!!!" Praise Jesus!!!!" she shouted as she saw her new home for the first time. She walked on the new carpet, ran her hands over the smooth granite countertops in her kitchen and marveled at her first dishwasher.
"We couldn't have gotten a bigger blessing than a new home. These are lovely men, and they left their families to help another family," Mother Robinson said.
Pastor Hartwell has plans to bring more people in to build houses and meet the owners so they know them and become part of the family much like the men of Fair Hope did.
For Bobby Clark and his crew, the experience moved them and changed their lives. They now believe they could do it all over again."I think if our hearts are still there we're going to do it again. Just not in seven days," Bobby Clark said with a smile.
THE ROAD HOME: Volunteer Bobby Clark leads Corrine Robinson to her new house on Oct. 9, a day after it was rebuilt.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)