The Outer Banks...Katrina....Thoughts....

For the last week we've been with our good friends and my business partners Carole and Linda and their husbands at Carole & Bob's lovely oceanfront home in Avon, NC. The weather has been wonderful, the ocean relatively calm -- a direct counterpoint to the horrific scenes and news that is coming in from the New Orleans area. Somehow it seems so surreal -- our discussions of "what would you like for breakfast," or "What shall we have for dinner tonight" vs the concerns of no food, no water, no shelter for the thousands still stranded among the flood waters.

The worst that we have had to contend with so far are increased gas prices. It will be interesting to see if our flight home is canceled or delayed -- sometimes it is difficult to separate rumor from truth.

However, my sister Rosie, and her husband Rob are in the thick of it. Rob is the pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Brookhaven MS, a small town about 2 hours north of New Orleans. They have about 200 evacuees from New Orleans that they are housing in the church. Rosie has gone from being the chief of kitchen proceedings to head of medical concerns - she's a school nurse. The stories they have to tell!! We've heard from Rob once - I'm grateful for that. Here's his post which bears reading....

"Our church, Faith Presbyterian, Brookhaven, Mississippi, is serving as a shelter for over 200 people from all walks of life. The property loss is staggering and the human tragedy is worse. Please pray for the many in our congregation who are putting in long days cooking, counseling, encouraging, assisting, etc. Pray for strength and perseverance for them as we do not know how long we will need to assist the evacuees. We are stretched to the limit and more people continue to arrive. And our situation is but one very small part of a disaster the likes of which I am without words to describe. Gas is running out at the gas stations and where it is available, people are having to stay in line for many hours just to get $20.00 worth which doesn't buy very much gas anymore!!!

Pray that we will be faithful witnesses to Christ in deed and in word. We have all kinds of faiths and no faiths represented. And we have Cajuns to Jordanians and everyone in between!! Pray for comfort for the evacuees and guidance for them as they try to discern what to do, where to go, etc. Many of those who are here with us are from New Orleans and south Louisiana. Pray for the government agencies as they seek to provide assistance both immediate and long term.

Brookhaven was hit hard and a number of the families in our congregation suffered damage to their homes. The power was knocked out over much of Mississippi and as you know it is hot and humid down here this time of the year. Thank the Lord that the power was restored to the church Tuesday afternoon and the power was restored at our home last night. But there are still many in town and more in the county who have no power.

The schools are closed until next Tuesday so Rosie and many of our teachers have been helping here at the church, but when they return to work I'm not sure how many we will have available to continue providing assistance. Rosie has switched hats from head of the kitchen crew to the coordinator of medical care. The doctors in our church have been wonderful in making regular calls here for the sick and chronically ill.

The Internet was restored here at the church today, but it is still out at the house so please feel free to pass this information along to others. We truly need all the prayer support that we can raise as you missionaries know all too well what I mean.

I don't know if this email makes much sense, but I hope it gives you an idea of the magnitude of this crisis and the wonderful opportunity for us to be servants for Christ's sake. "

Many people have been discussing where best to send their money for relief work -- and many concerned that their $$ will be swallowed up in administrative and beaurocratic costs. May I suggest that a donation to Faith Presbyterian -- doing a vital work, albeit on a small scale compared to the city of Houston and the Astrodome -- would assure that your money would be used for the relief effort that the church is making. Rob has not asked for this -- he has no idea I'm suggesting it -- but if you would like to contribute, the address of the church is:

Faith Presbyterian Church
400 Magee Ave.
Brookhaven MS 39601

For Jesus' sake.....