Monday Sept 26

My good buddies have left. Rob VanderPutten and Glenn Redmond, both of Nebraska. Separation of short term friendships is emotionally taxing. Meeting all the new people with fresh perspectives is refreshing, but a lot of people to keep up with. I've been writing down people's name and one line about them on a notebook page and I'm on page four since I got here. The quick turnover makes the time warp as well. I've only been gone about a week and a half now, but it seems like about a quarter of a month. Kidding. Seems like a full blown month. My confidence is that these moments have great influence on eternity.

Bill Green from Chattanooga and I prayed with Barbara and Fred, and she cried. I guess because we cared to pray. Maybe God just touches hearts like that. I don't know... like the lady who cried when I was telling her where our cleaning crew was from just walking down the street. People's hearts are just sensitive. They have had stress, suffering, some have lost jobs, some families are living under a tarp instead of a house.

The preacher, Tod Vogt was at his home last Thursday and a professional logging crew was cleaning one of his neighbor's yard. The tree was felled on top of one the men and Tod ran over and watched this man bleed to death. The news isn't going to report things like this as being related to Katrina, but Katrina is really just a bad word that people must use in reference to their suffering.

Since church yesterday, I've driven the forklift, unloaded cargo trucks, cut trees, moved brush, tarped a roof, registered new guests, led singing at chapel, had good deep spiritual discussions with my brothers and sisters, and posted this blog. Hope you're enjoying it. Love from LA.