March 16, 2008; The Lower 9th Ward

A great start to the day today as we attended the 9:30 service. A guest worship leader from outside of Atlanta and an amazing talk about being the salt and the light of the world. We must become the salt and the light each day and get involved in helping others to get to where they need to be, while making God the center of our lives.

After service we ate some lunch at an Asian buffet and then travelled to some of the more harshly effected areas in New Orleans. When you hear and see of the upper and lower 9th wards on television, they are just that, reports and sights on television. To be in a place of devastation, even three years later, is still a powerful and breathtaking experience. Your thoughts return to what you have seen on tv, the sights and the sounds become reality...to real at times you have to shut your eyes hoping to never forget what you have seen.

I have seen bad circumstances in Mexico, 3rd world poverty and people living in tough times. I also thought of the aura in the air at ground zero, seven years or so after the day. A chilling feeling like no other, knowing how many had died there. Visiting around today was much different, as EVERY house was damaged to say the least. The power of the water and wind bringing even the biggest houses to their knees. In some places there were'nt even houses at all, rather open fields of grass, foundational bricks, and even front porch steps, standing alone where houses once stood. Ghost towns today where children once played, BBQ's where had and whole lives were developed. Gone in a matter of seconds and still waiting relief.

So many questions still remain. Where is the help, why are they still like this, how much can we do in one week? We hold fast to the ideas of hope and faith, that what we do is a small piece, but it is a piece and that the relationships we end up building will last longer than any roof, any wall, or any foundation that we may help to construct.

Pray for our hearts that they may be strong, that we may be able to be the salt and the light in a place that still so desperately needs love.