Back from the Gulf Coast

The past four days have been amazing! Without a doubt I received more than I was able to give during our trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As expected, the devastation was unbelievable. I didn't get a chance to do any "sight-seeing", but just the neighborhoods that I saw were more than I could comprehend. Every house. Every single house received some sort of damage. And piled in front of every house were all of each household's belongings mixed with powdery remnants of sheetrock and dented appliances. I was also blessed to be in the wonderful company of people from my brother's church, Bartlett Woods Church of Christ, and Great Oaks Church of Christ, both from Bartlett, Tennessee. Teenagers, parents, single adults and seniors, this group of 50-plus Christians were such a family. I often times had trouble figuring which parents went with which teenagers because there was such an air of familial love and interaction.

We camped out at Eastside Church of Christ in Ocean Springs, Miss., sleeping on the floor of the auditorium, classrooms and closets. My brother, Joe, and I arrived late Thursday and staked out the men's baptistry dressing room (just big enough for our two air mattresses). At the close of each day, Ben (Great Oak's youth minister) led the group in sharing "Where did you see Jesus today?" Each person in the room, teenagers and adults alike, told where they had seen Jesus in each other, in the people we were serving, in the very magnitude of this disaster.

I can't count how many times I was moved to tears during this trip. One occasion was as I was talking with the homeowner of a surge-damaged house and a group of teenagers helping to install drywall were loudly laughing in the next room. "Do you hear that?" she asked. "That is joy in my house. I don't know how long it's been since there has been joy in my house."

I am filled to overflowing with gratitude: Thanks to the people who organized this (one of several) relief teams. Thanks to my brothers and sisters from Bartlett Woods and Great Oaks (and my brother, Joe) for welcoming me as one of their own. Thanks Brother Quardrick Brumfield for his rousing sermon Sunday morning. Thanks to Sister Jan for opening her home so that I and others could use her shower. Thanks to God for displaying to me his might and power, his ever-present Spirit and unending faithfulness.

For more photos, download my Katrina Relief Photo Album (PDF 2.15MB).