I spent Friday with Lutheran Disaster Response Groups from NJ, PA, and MS. We toured from Mobile, AL to New Orleans learning about the different styles of response to Katrina. Each volunteer camp has the same mission, but approach it slightly differently. Seeing the devastation that lingers almost 29 months after Katrina is shocking.
In the third picture, Lee Zandstra, LDR of NJ, is 5'10". The water in the area came to the top of the wall behind her. Unreal, the power of a wall of water to clear everything.
Our tour guide for New Orleans grew up in East New Orleans and is now a pastor in Slidell, LA. Driving through the ninth ward and witnessing the marks on the door, that signify the day entered, number of deaths, and whether or not to demolish the house, I realized there are no words for the emotions of saddness and regret that things were not different for this area.
What brings comfort, is the promise from God to Noah in Genesis: "Never again will I destroy all the earth with a flood." And so with the words of Ecclesiastes 3:3 ringing in my head, we are now in "a time to build"
May the light of Christ illuminate your path so that others are drawn to the hope of the World.
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