Tuesday September 27

Busy day. Tim Hines is leaving to go back to Honduras to see his boys and his wife for a couple of weeks before returning. He kept me around the building today priming me for watching after the operations while he's gone. They have also asked me to stick around after returning from my homecoming to Valdosta (October 12ish for a couple of weeks).

Matter of fact, if anyone is interested, that week of October 17 would be a good time for me to accompany a group from Valdosta down here if you would like to start building a team. The needs are plenty and the work is not going to run out and the ministry is more intense than many of you may be experiencing in a while. So come.

There's a group from Ohio who has posted a fantastic blog, check it out. The Columbus relief effort

Also The Spring Road Church Katrina Effort

Lot of good stories today:

• There was a team out today in a fancy section of town. One brother who was the team leader from Ohio assessed the damage and they didn't think it was really that bad. They told the lady that they thought there were others who would benefit more and she said that she understood. A lady on the team had a family member up in Ohio in the hospital (father I think). After she spoke to her family, they found out that the nurse who had been taking care of her father had a mother living in Slidell. She was the daughter of this same woman! So they went back and cleaned the house.
  
• Some of the volunteers and a local church member were trying to get a trailer hooked up and pulled to the right place in somewhat of an ASAP basis. They didn't have the correct one. They started out and the second truck pulled to the side of the road because they thought the lead truck lost something out of the back. When they stopped, it was a trailer hitch, the exact size they needed-- just dropped out there on the ground.
  

These things are too coincidental not to be an act of God... what do you think?

When we talk about these stories around here, they are few of many. Rhonda from the office told me that things like that have happened ever since the church took up their appointed ministry. For instance, they would be in the office brainstorming about things they needed and the would get a phone call and someone on the other end would be offering the item they just discussed. Coincidences like that happen most often to those who pray and believe that nothing is impossible for God.

• I met some folks today who pulled up under the porch at the building and they said something about clothes. I thought they looked pretty well dressed for people asking for clothes. But when I came back out with information, I had misunderstood-- they wanted to give some away! They also had a sign in their window HONK FOR A FREE CAT TO A GOOD HOME. Joey was sitting in the back holding the kitty and it was Jerry and Teri up front who told me that they were being relocated to Kansas. Their home had nothing but shingle damage, but they had to move away anyway. We prayed God speed 'em

Sometimes you'll hear of people who seem rich asking for "free handouts" and it might not seem right. But there are stories that go deep that make it make sense.

• There was a family of teachers from St. Bernard's parish who both lost their jobs and were keeping 23 people plus six dogs in their home. They weren't just keeping them, they were taking care of them, operating their own personal home as a shelter. And they don't know where the mortgage money's going to come from. They really dont' even know where their next meals for their 29 mouths they are going to come from. Oh... one of the dogs was one of those warmaranners-- I don't know how to spell that, but the lady said she was looking at him right in the face.
  
• Another family was keeping 28 families. Did you read this right? I said 28 FAMILIES, not 28 people.
• A seven month pregnant young lady came to the building today-- she was hauling two refrigerators in the back of her truck. She was hauling them as favors for her neighbors.
  
• One family who came for some supplies today had an grandmother whose husband just got out of the hospital and an uncle who just died and they were going to the funeral later that day.
  
• Dick Jones from Washington saw Ericka's house today (she's the girl with the angel wings... today she was wearing a midget tie-- OH! and she ALSO has a minature rat terrier named Jack!) . Ericka has been working steady at the church and her family is still living under a tarp. They had a motor home that was runned over by a tree. She has a couple of siblings, her parents have an adopted child, and they also have custody of two of her cousins. And they're living under a tarp. They're living under a tarp.
  
• A lady was in the office the other day and she needed a way to boil water to clean the trache of her special needs son. We gave her a camp stove that someone had donated.
  

I'll be on the road tomorrow dropping off supplies and taking Tim to the airport. We have a lot of crews going to different places, we're getting into the "west bank" regions of New Orleans. Pray for us this day