Back from Biloxi

Hi! I'm back to the blog.

I'm setting a goal - to add posts to the blog at least 2-3 times each week. So check back later to see if I meet my goal!

I just got back from a missions trip to Biloxi, MS, to help with rebuilding efforts. What an eye-opener this trip was about many things!

I guess one of the biggest things I gained perspective on was the scope of the devistation that Katrina brought to the area. Neighborhood after neighborhood full of damaged homes that are still, 15 months later, uninhabitable. Some show no signs of anyone living around them. Many others have FEMA trailers parked in the yards beside them - some of these have indications of work on the house and others show no signs of being touched since the storm. We drove down to New Orleans and were awed by the damage there - neighborhoods in the same conditions as those in Biloxi. Whole apartment complexes abandoned because of holes in the walls and lost roofs. Some were completely sealed off so no one could get inside to cause further destruction, I suppose. Shopping centers and malls with empty parking lots, all boarded up. I wondered when, and if, these places would ever be reopened. We noticed that the storm did not descriminate in its damage - upper class neighborhoods were hit just like the poorer neighborhoods. The difference was in the rebuilding - more seemed to be happening in the nicer neighborhoods. Perhaps because they had the means to come back or maybe the knowledge of how to make things happen that others didn't have. I've always wanted to belive, niavely I suppose, that America would be blind to race or economic status and help those who needed the help regardless. This trip has caused me to wonder.

I was awed by the stories I heard from those who were in Biloxi during those 13 or so hours that Katrina was in town. They told tales of ocean waves taking off the roofs of their houses and then coming back to fill them full of water. They told of being awakened from their sleep by objects bumping into them that were floating around in the water inside their homes. They talked about looking out the window of their homes to see the bodies of their neighbors floating past. They shared stories of standing on chairs to try to keep their noses above the water and of being held on to by husbands who were desperately trying to keep their families alive. They told about trying to save their animals by placing them on top of refrigerators that were floating past them. As the frightened animals jumped back into the water, they jumped back in to try to retrieve them. Some broke bones that would not be treated until days later, leaving them in such pain to this day that they don't sleep.

How would I feel about life if these stories were my experience? Would I question why it happened to me? Would I be angry with God for taking away everything I had? Would I be bitter about the physical pain I was constantly in? Would I be complaining to anyone who would listen about the injustices I felt because I had no resources to rebuild my home and life? Not these people we met! It was amazing to hear the hope, the faith, and the gratitude they had in their hearts. Although their whole lives had changed, they were optomistic about the future and they were so greatful to all those volunteers who had come down to help them put their homes back together. They spoke of contentment - how often do I complain when tiny little things don't go my way and here are people who lost everything talking about contentment! To come through what these people have come through and be able to say "God is good - all the time" serves as an example to us all! I have been challenged to look at my life in a new way!

That's the way I see it today in Shari's world...