Nawlins Reflections...

Well, we are back from our trip and I can honestly say that this last week was the hardest manual labor that I have ever done. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find on of the guys on this trip that would not agree with me. Tearing down a house is no simple task and when you add on top of that, heat, humidity, and no bathrooms it's even harder.

I cannot even begin to describe the impact June, Suzy, Harold and Brenda had on my life. Working side by side people who lost everything. Here are some things I wrote down in my journal last week while we were in New Orleans (pronounced Nawlins by the natives).

"I wish I could describe to you what it's like here. It's aweful. Nobody has anything. The houses are destroyed. Water flodded so many people's homes. People were picked on only to be dropped off on a bridge and left for 3 days.

Every time we drive around I think, 'God where were you when these people were drowning? When they were looking for shelter? Where were you when these people showed up one and two months later and saw their home completely saturated?'

These questions haunt me because as a Texan away from all of it I can say 'Well, God was there when the boat showed up before the house went under. God was there in the warnings and evacuations. God was there through the FEMA, Red Cross, Hilltop, Project Blessing and countless other organizations that now call New Orleans ground zero.

Being here, taking a sledge hammer to walls, fishing for burried memories and gazing into the faces of June, Harold and Brenda I feel God. He's not just a presence but God is hope. God has raised up his army and has sent them to New Orleans, LA.

Once a thriving city now littered with piles of trash as high as the house it came from. Among the trash pictures of grandkids and parents. Scarves, statues and a million more memories from thousands of people. Where is God? In us. In the hope that we bring to the June's of New Orleans who only want to find a statue of Mary and Jesus. God is in the hope we bring to the Harold's who were able to save their 91 year old mothers from being swept away by water.

God is in the people who continually call us angels. The people who have been praying for someone to come demolish their house. The people who at the end of the day have littled compared to before the storm and still praise God.

It really is a different world. It's not the thriving New Oeleans I came to years ago, but you know what? It's home. For some it was home for 2 months and for some it was home for 60 years. It's home. Tearing down to build up."

The last house we did was the house of a couple who had 9 children, all grown and one still living at home. 10 Rooms, 5 Bathrooms and a shed full of old pipes because the man was a retired plumber. The daughter who was still living there was a musician so it only seemed fit that our last house would be the place of the most powerful devo I experienced all week.

"This is Holy ground. We're standing on Holy ground and I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in his presence on Holy ground."

God, may I never forget what I saw, smelled, heard and experienced this week. Forever change my heart to be more likes yours and bless your people in New Orleans. May they shine their light in the dark city. Amen