DownshoreDrift

Katrina Hit Two Years Ago Today

Two years ago, my homeland was hit by the worst natural disaster to ever affect the U.S. Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. I was born in New Orleans, as was all my family, and grew up just across the Mississippi state line in Picayune, about 45 miles northeast of New Orleans. Biloxi was 45 miles to the southeast. We were about 25 miles from the coast as the crow flies. Katrina came through and her eye passed right through my hometown, dumping 5 trees into my Dad's house. On September 2, I led a team of around 30 to Ocean Springs, MS, where we established and ran a Red Cross shelter. Some of our folks moved down there and have not come home. They continue to help people rebuild through a ministry that our church helped start called Pathfinder Mission. You can read all about the eleven days that changed my life in a series of posts that I wrote last year called Katrina Remembrances.

I have been home many times in the past two years. Things seem to be coming back, albeit slowly. People continue to struggle and the nation's attention has moved on. Of the billions and billions of dollars that were approved for rebuilding in that region, very little actually ever made it down there. Even less made it into the hands of homeowners. There was a lot of flash and many promises, but people have mostly been left to their own devices through whatever aid and insurance that they can piece together. The Church has helped tremendously and people have taken notice. I still grieve and I still pray. I hope that you remember as well.

Pray. Be Flexible. Have a Good Attitude.

In 1994, I was a 19 year old college sophomore from Mississippi State University who went on summer missions with the Baptist Student Union. I was sent to California where I met Greg Sumii, who was the director of the summer missions program for the California State Baptist Convention. We had an orientation in the mountains at the state baptist camp called Jenness Park and two life changing events happened to me there. First: I met my future wife, Erika. She was a college student from the University of Alabama who was also a summer missionary. And, she was really hot. She still is. I remember the first time I saw her. We talked later, and while everything was very spiritual and godly in nature, a connection was formed that we nurtured throughout the summer by writing letters. When we returned to our universities, we stared dating (MSU and Alabama are only 90 miles apart). But, I digress.

Second: I was taught the mantra of the California BSU Summer Missionary: Pray. Be Flexible. Have a Good Attitude. I was so open and teachable at the time that it made an incredible difference. I digested that teaching and incorporated it into my spiritual DNA. I did Vacation Bible Schools all summer, and I prayed for the kids each and every day. I prayed for them until my heart was broken and I found myself weeping over them. I prayed for their souls, and before every presentation of the gospel with either children, youth, or adults that summer, I prayed that God would break me and anoint me with the power of His Spirit. We saw over 60 decisions for Christ that summer from our little team of myself and another girl from a community college in Mississippi. God answered prayers.

I also learned to be flexible. Plans were changed at the last minute. Things did not go as planned. Host homes fell through and supplies were not available. It didn't matter. I was flexible, right? Along with that came a consistent practice of having a good attitude. Whatever came my way, I made it a habit to praise God and not complain. After a week in the mountains with 40 teenagers, I became deathly ill. Apparently, they meant it when they said that you were not to drink the water from the mountain streams. I developed some type of intesinal sickness that produced diarrhea that left me dehydrated. I passed out one day from it. The problem was, I had been placed in a home by my host family across the street from them. He was a pastor and he arranged for me to stay in the home of a neighbor while they were on vacation. While I was sick, neither he nor his wife came to check on me. Barefoot and delirious, I wandered over there one day and said that I was dehydrated and needed some Gatorade. This was after I had passed out on the floor of the bathroom. The pastor's wife gave me the keys to the van and sent me to a convenience store. Still barefoot and delirious, I drove to get myself something to drink. I did not complain or even see anything wrong with the way I was being treated. I was thankful for the Gatorade and the relief that it provided. After praying for myself profusely, I recovered and was able to continue with mission work throughout the rest of the summer. I wish I still had that attitude all the time now, but I was a missionary, right? How could I see things any differently?

I only tell that story because there was something very powerful in Greg Sumii's ministry to me that summer. I learned that when I am serving the Lord it is not about me. It is about Him and the people that He is sending me to. Problems may arise and difficulties may come, but our strength is in the Lord. My wife and I taught these three principles to the 23 from our church who went down to the Gulf Coast on the mission trip last week. We ingrained it into the children and whenever fatigue or crankiness would begin to set in, we would remind them of the 3 Rules for Missionaries. It worked great. We had a great plan of having a 4th of July Picnic for all of the people that we had met in Waveland, and when the skies opened with a deluge 5 minutes after the picnic started and we got completely rained out, no one complained. The kids had joy playing in the rain and we just changed our plans and delivered the food to the people instead. We had enough left over for a group of 15 teenagers who were helping work on a home as well. God was glorified through the food we delivered as well as through our attitudes.

Those lessons learned long ago have served me well. I am thankful to Greg Sumii and the Baptist Student Union Summer Missions Program. I am thankful that I met my wife there. I am also thankful that God taught me through all of that that we are all missionaries all the time and we need to always pray, be flexible, and have a good attitude! I confess that I often fall short of those ideals, but when I think back to that life shaping experience, I am reminded of the power of simplicity and obedience.

Weekend Photos - Waveland, MS

Here are some pictures of our trip to Waveland, MS with Pathfinder Mission that I found interesting. The pictures were specifically chosen to tell a story of faithfulness and progress in the midst of destruction and despair. God is at work in all types of ways in Waveland, MS through His people - and, it's not the first time it has happened this way. Let me know what you think.

   

"I Know Jesus, But I Don't Have to Go to Church."

I heard this refrain quite a few times while we were down on the Gulf Coast this past week. Everyone believed in God. Everyone. They all pray. They all have some sort of faith. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is a heavily Catholic region and there is a pervading sense of spirituality and of faith in God.  Yet, so many really do not have a relationship with Christ. They are not sure if they are going to heaven. They hope that God is not wrathful toward them.

As I talked with our team, I told them that we were dealing with people who believed in both faith and works. Our job was to encourage them toward the faith side. We were to pray with them, to talk about Jesus be the only sacrifice for sin, to encourage them to place their full faith and trust in Jesus and to not believe in anything else. At times it was difficult, but at other times, the people were very open.

But, by and large, most saw their faith in God through an individualistic lense. They could pray and follow God on their own, so why did they need the church? Why attend church when God was personal or I could just engage in some type of abstract belief in Him and receive His blessing? All in all, spiritual life was about them, but it rarely reached into their everyday life. Yet, they were so very glad that the Baptists had come. Over and over again I heard from Catholics that if it had not been for the Baptists and the other Christian groups, they do not know what they would have done.

Fortunately for them, all of those Christians who came did not share the same individualistic notions of faith that some of them did. Many want to both believe in God and maintain their own independence. They want to have faith, yet have total freedom. Yet, God set it up where all followers of Christ would gather together in a church, the ecclesia, the called out ones. As we gather together loving God and loving others, we experience His presence and power, both individually and collectively. We also become His hands and feet and we bring His Kingdom into this world - together. Every group that goes down to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast is giving a powerful witness of the necessity and beauty of God's people, the church, being who they are created to be.  If your church has not yet gone down, you are missing a historical moment that will likely not come around again anytime soon. Sow seeds into the lives of the people of the Gulf Coast region.

Yes, people still say that they don't need the church to follow God. But, they are saying it with much less confidence as they see God's people live out their faith and not just talk about it. Hearts are being turned and people are asking questions. They are opening up to the Lord. That tends to happen when a Baptist group that you have never met travels from Tennessee and rebuilds your house.

What is the Central Truth of Christianity?

Jesus said it was loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Paul agreed and said that he preached nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, which was the fulfillment of Jesus' love for the Father and for us (But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us - Romans 5:8). Loving God. Loving People.

I'm in Waveland, Mississippi this week with a group from our church to work with Pathfinder Mission. We brought a bunch of families down with their kids to visit people, help them out some, pray with them, counsel them, and throw a big party on Wednesday for the 4th of July. I am seeing some people that I met last year (check out my posts from the Coast from July, 2006) and am catching up on how they have progressed. Over and over I am hearing one constant refrain: If it weren't for Christians and the church, we don't know where we would be. This is coming from many who are non-Christians. They are so thankful. They welcome us into their homes out of respect for all who have come before us. They welcome us and thank us because of all that have come before who have loved God and have loved them. Christianity has been lived out down here and it has made a difference.

But, we don't always experience this in the Church in America. I wonder if a big part of our problem has been that we have allowed "truth" to be taught to us by academics who have parsed every verb and split every hair. I wonder if we have allowed the pharisees, who are the experts in the Law, to dictate to us what it means to believe the truth and we have submitted ourselves to that interpretation to the point that it has affected our ability to work with others. Maybe we should take some time to listen to those swinging the hammers and leading the mission teams. There is a lady that I met last year named Hazel. She is in her 80's, and when I met her she was living in a FEMA trailer next to a home that had been stripped to the studs. Today, I saw her in a newly repaired home. It was fixed up by a church from Massachusetts who came down again and again. I don't know every jot and tittle of their theology, but they told her about Jesus and they showed her love. I have a good feeling that I'll see them in heaven. If I will be with them in heaven, shouldn't I find a way to work with people like that now? As a matter of fact, unless they are teaching something that will keep people out of heaven, do I not have a responsibility to find common ground with them and keep the unity of the saints in Christ? Once you really begin to face the desperate need and lostness of people, it is hard to understand why you would not want to work with as many Christians as you could to bring the love of Jesus to the Nations.

When Christians are on mission together, the world experiences the love of Christ made flesh. We become His hands and feet. Those hands and feet continue to make a difference on the Gulf Coast. If your church has yet to take a trip down here, you are missing an incredible blessing. So many are still in need and there is still so much work to be done. Everyone that could help themselves has already done so.  Much of the work that is left is among the elderly, the disabled, and those who are alone and have no means of support. They are good people and they are trying their best. They just need a helping hand. Please pray about joining the massive parade of Christians who have come down here and have made a difference in the lives of people on the Gulf Coast.

Something tells me that I am seeing the core of Christianity lived out down here. Theology makes a lot more sense when people are living it instead of arguing about it. When you are in trouble, there is little time to divide over every little doctrine. You roll your sleeves up, find out where you can cooperate, and you get to work building the Kingdom - one broken life at a time.

I'll have more reports and a lot of pictures later in the next couple of days. You really need to see the before and after pictures of Hazel's house!

God Have Mercy

Ernesto is coming . . . Please Pray.  Here are some different projections I found:

   

Obviously, if this hits anywhere in the possible projected area, it is very bad news for the people on the Gulf Coast. The second projection would be a bit better for New Orleans, but not by much. We're already gearing up by connecting with our contacts down there and are making plans to activate the network that we established of churches in Montgomery to send groups and help. If you would like to be a part of that, leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you. We are positioning ourselves to be a shelter of last resort for people who live in FEMA trailers. Over 50,000 people alone live in FEMA trailers on the MS Gulf Coast. In strong winds, they'll roll like a tin can. I've made a bunch of phone calls today and our camp in Waveland is getting the world out to residents to offer them shelter in Montgomery. Things are gearing up. I hope it goes somewhere else. This area can't take it.  Further updates later . . .

Great 4th of July Party!!!

Well, we finally finished up our mission trip to Waveland, MS with Pathfinder Mission. It was an incredible experience. God was so faithful to connect us with people who needed encouragement and who needed to hear the gospel. We threw a big party yesterday for the 4th of July.  It was huge success!  We had well over a hundred people from the community join us and we all sat around and ate BBQ chicken that was given to us piping hot off the grill (thanks Bay Vista Baptist Church!), shrimp, hot dogs, and other sides. Kids came and played basketball and other games at the adjacent park. We heard and told stories, laughed, prayed, and enjoyed God's gift of life. It was really important for Pathfinder to connect with the community this way, and also to provide a sense of place and normalcy for people. They team was great, we all worked together well, and I can truly say that God blessed us enormously.

A really great thing is how we (Pathfinder is a ministry of our church, Gateway Baptist, in partnership with other churches) are truly becoming a part of the community down there. We have an official shrimp boiler now, Mr. Charles. He brought his boiler and also found shrimp for us straight off the boat down by the docks for $2 a pound! What a deal. We connected with him on Saturday and he said that he would love to come and boil shrimp for us anytime. We're going to take him up on it!  He did a great job!

We also now have an official camp photographer!  His name is Lionel and he does really great photography of the area. I spoke to him for sometime. I told him that he was now the official Pathfinder Mission photographer. Whenever we have special events, we're going to call him and have him take pictures. He readily agreed and said he would come by anytime.  He's a really nice man. You can see his photos here: http://pbase.com/nomofilm1.  Especially check out the Katrina before and after pictures here: Katrina Before & After.  I'm going to be posting some of his pictures soon to give a good idea of what truly happened down here.

We reconnected with so many people yesterday that we had visited with during the weekend. It was so wonderful to sit with people for an hour or so on their porch on Saturday, and have them come back to Pathfinder on Tuesday and hang out with us some more. It really showed me their deep need and appreciation for community and relationships.  Just about every person I had a significant conversation with came to the party on Tuesday and just hung out. These are just regular folks. Some of them lived in really big beautiful homes. Others, lived in trailers or small old houses. They're all in the same boat now. Each one is waiting for a group of volunteers to come and help them put their lives back together. It is too big a job for them to do by themselves. Many of them are older, or they have been wiped out.  When people question why they just don't leave, the answer is that they have no where to go. They would be in the same boat anywhere else, without a home and without resources.  Plus, this is home. Unlike much of America, people have real community down here and are tied to the land for generations. It's very difficult to just leave that.

An example, is Scott in the adjacent picture. I talked with him on Sunday for quite some time. He gave his heart to the Lord right after the storm, but is in desperate need of a community of believers to connect with.  We are going to try and provide that for him through Pathfinder. Next to him is Kathleen, one of the permanent volunteer staff at Pathfinder. She is doing incredible work in the community as are all the other staff.  God is working in powerful ways to bring resources to the point of need and to help lift people up. We just need more teams to come.

People are very open and are willing to talk about spiritual things. But, I learned something very important. Often when you go on a mission trip and God does great things, you think that you wish you could stay in that area where people are responsive to the gospel. But, the reality is that people are responsive to the gospel everywhere. You only notice it more because you are praying for the power of the Holy Spirit, are totally dependent on God, and are focused on the singular task of ministering Christ to people through all kinds of ways, even through parties, chicken, and boiled shrimp! God is the one who opens people's hearts. People are no more responsive in Waveland, Montgomery, or China. It is all the work of the Holy Spirit, and until we realize that, start depending on Him, and start acting in faith, we are going to see the same results we have been getting. The gospel must be preached in power. It was in Waveland, MS this week. God drew people to Himself and was glorified. May it be so in our hometowns as well.

Please pray about coming down to Waveland, MS with Pathfinder Mission. We are at the point that we have built up a need meeting ministry, but we desperately need teams to come and minister, share Christ, and try and connect all of these folks with spiritual hunger into a community of faith. If you have a group from your church that would be interested in coming down to share Christ with people that we have met through follow up, I would be so grateful. Our staff at Pathfinder is small and most volunteers who come are focused on the construction end of things. We need some evangelists. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  If you want to send a team down, let me know and I'll set the whole thing up for you. What an incredible training time for folks in your church as well! Please pray about it!

Hope Out of Despair

We met Red and his wife Melissa today. Red was self described as "bad people." He had tatoos up and down his arms, earrings in his ears, and it was obvious that he and his wife had trouble. We went by to tell them about the 4th of July picnic tomorrow, and like so many other people in the area, we began to hear their story. Thirteen of them had gathered in Melissa's aunt's house, including children. They didn't have anywhere to go outside of the area, so they had to stay in Waveland. These are poor people, and all they really have is each other. They gathered together on Sunday night, and Monday morning the waters started to rise. Within 20 minutes they rose from knee high, to several feet over their head. People were drowning all around them.

Red got everyone in the attic, lifting older ladies who could not help themselves and pulling children up. He broke a hole in the roof and got them all up on top of it. As the waters continued to rise even higher, everyone had to swim for a higher building. Melissa couldn't swim, but she just started kicking her legs and swinging her arms and somehow made it. There was a man across the street who got his mother-in-law and wife on the roof, but his mother and he drowned. Red and Melissa saw him disappear.

As we kept talking about their ordeal and the subsequent days of misery after the water went down, Red made the statement, "I don't know why God let this happen. Nothing good has come out of it. Nothing is any better. Did He save my life just for this mess?"  Red does not have a personal relationship with Christ, but he believes that God exists.  Both his mother and his wife, Melissa, have cancer. He was really discouraged as he spoke to me about what happened with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. As I began to share the gospel with him, he couldn't accept that God could forgive him, or that God could do anything with a scoundrel like him. Remember, Red is "bad people." 

For so many folks down here, their lives have become like the picture of the steps here.  After Hurricane Camile in 1969, they called these steps, "Steps to Nowhere."  They are steps that go up to where homes once stood, but now there is just empty space. That is how so many lives are. Ask Scott, the guy we met yesterday, who is suffering from Katrina fatigue - he is overwhelmed with sadness from the loss of the storm, but he gave his heart to Christ while he slept under the stars in his tent in the weeks following Katrina. But, he is still so lonely. Through the work of the ministry of Christians down here and through places like Pathfinder Mission, we are providing people "Steps to Somewhere."  That Somewhere is actually a Someone who loves them so much that He gave His life for them. We are reminding people like Red, Melissa, and Scott, that Jesus loves them and we do too. 

Red did not receive Christ today. He just couldn't accept God's love and He couldn't believe that His life could change. He couldn't understand all of the suffering from the storm or the suffering in his family with his mother's and wife's cancer. He said that if he had one wish, it would be to trade places with his mother and take her suffering.  I was able to relate to them about cancer because of Caelan, my son. I was also able to tell him, that while he couldn't take his mother's suffering, that Jesus loved him so much that he took Red's place to take his sin, suffering, and pain. Red couldn't accept it. I'm praying for him and I hope you will too.

God is at work in Hancock County. He is touching hearts and changing lives. He is bringing hope in the midst of despair. He is doing work right out in the open, and He is doing secret work that no one can see. Hearts are so open. We talk with each person we meet for so long. They want to laugh, share their stories, and hear about why we have come. They want to hear about Jesus. They all want to pray. But, there are so few volunteers in comparison to the still present need.  Judy, a lady we met this evening is waiting for another church group to come and help her with work she cannot do. Charles and his wife so desperately need another FEMA trailer so they can bring their family back with them. They need a pod to put their stuff. There are STILL people living in tents all over, waiting for a trailer.  They are all thanking the churches, declaring that if it weren't for the Christians, so many more people would have died. They are waiting for you to come because they cannot put their lives together by themselves. They are waiting for someone to tell them how to build their lives on the Rock and to show them how. Please pray, send, and come down yourself. I'll set you up with some really needy folks.

Tomorrow is our 4th of July party. Please pray that people that we have invited come. Please pray that we are able to speak into people's hearts and spread the Joy that we know in the Lord. We'll be home tomorrow.

Seeing Jesus Through the Wreckage

Jesus is on the move in Waveland, MS. Sometimes you have to look a bit harder and use enlightened eyes of discernment, but He is working. Yesterday, we went to worship at Bay Vista Baptist Church in Biloxi, MS and heard an incredible message on Philippians 1:21 - "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain."  We have been thinking about that quite a bit the last few days. We are living that out right now, and are finding true life, our reason for existing. Jesus. Here's a picture of the team, gathered like the early church around the common table, laughing, sharing life, and on mission. Praise God.

We had some amazing experiences with people yesterday. Christ was shared with dozens of folks in one on one conversation. We passed out flyers on Pathfinder Mission and also about our 4th of July picnic. We prayed with so many hurting people - their stories of survival and of life on the coast since the storm are courageous and heart breaking at the same time. Many people gave their hearts to Christ in the days after the storm as they thanked Him for living through it. God is bringing us to those people to encourage and bring together into a congregation. Pray that their hearts are receptive and that the chains of religion that keep them from joining a body of believers are broken.

Hazel is one of the people that God is speaking to these days. She lost her home and is living in a FEMA trailer. She is waiting on a team to come from Massachusetts in October to put her home back together. They promised. She is waiting. I pray that they keep their promise and that it wasn't just made in haste so they would feel better about themselves. There is a little old lady in Waveland, MS who believed them and is waiting patiently. May God help them if they do not fulfill their word.

So many people. So many stories. Tomorrow, as I said, we are trying to gather people together to celebrate the 4th. So many people we've talked to do not have any plans. We are going to try and provide a sense of community, join with them in throwing a party, and also share gifts with them and let them share with us. Mike, a guy who almost came to Christ yesterday, asked if he could bring something. I said, "Yeah, bring some shrimp if you can." We're going to try and boil shrimp along with the chicken and other sides. We'll see if that works out. Please pray for us as we finish up the trip today and tomorrow. We've seen God do great things. We believe Him for more.

Simple Prayers, Simple People

This is Cathy. We met her today as we were out visiting people who have come by Pathfinder seeking assitance. We have already gotten her a storage pod to put her stuff, but we wanted to go by and check on her, see how she was doing, and see if there was anything else we could do to help. We have about 16 folks down with 6 more joining us by tomorrow and we broke up into groups of 3 or 4 and fanned out across the community to pray with people, assess their further needs, help them with things, and check on their situation for the camp's further work with them. Cathy was a really sweet lady who loves Jesus, prays to him all the time, and is very sincere in her faith. Her Catholic church was destroyed in the storm, so we invited her to join the Thursday night Bible study we've started at Pathfinder.

One comment that she made really touched my heart. She's living in a FEMA trailer and does not have very much money. She is totally dependent on volunteers coming down to help rebuild her home. So many have come, but there is still so much to be done for people like Cathy who cannot care for themselves.  We prayed with her that God would continue to move the hearts of Christians in Ohio, Oklahoma, Missouri and all points in between to not forget people like her and to continue to come down and make a difference. It was a sweet time of prayer.

A success story had us running into Jeanne, who I met a couple of months ago. She works at the local Wal-Mart. She was so happy to see me, as I was her! A group from Michigan came down a couple of months ago and rebuilt her house. Pathfinder helped her with a toilet for her bathroom that we had salvaged. We invited her to our 4th of July party that we are having and she said she was coming and was going to bring her daughter.

One other thing: We ran into a guy today named Charles. He likes to boil shrimp and is pretty good at it, too. We got to pray with him and share the gospel over the course of about an hour long conversation. I invited him to our 4th of July party and asked him to come and share his gifts with us and boil us some shrimp to go along with the BBQ chicken. He said that he would, so hopefully, we'll get to spend some time with Charles boiling seafood on Tuesday. I also asked him to bring some shrimp if he ran across any! Our goal is to be a hub for the community and to serve them in bringing them together. The more that we partner with them, the closer we'll be.