Sept 4, 11PM. One of my best Pals, Jack the Fox, and I loaded in a van with some soon-to-be friends and headed south. The mission was to follow 2 large trucks loaded with supplies to Louisiana, and bring the drivers back to Terre Haute. I could write forever on the details, but here are some things I will remember for a long time:
- Passing convoys of hundreds of military vehicles – Hummers, trucks with water, military medical trucks
- 48 hours and 1900 miles.
- Offloading some supplies to a family that had 40 people living in their house and had not received supplies in a week
- Gumbo
- Getting waved off the interstate by the military. They had closed the road and we were only able to get within a few miles of New Orleans.
- Talking with a Pastor who has 2 churches in New Orleans. “Both of my churches have 5′ of water. The people in my church are now spread all over the South. I don’t know where 80% of them are, I fear many are dead.”
- Slidell. We drove for 30 minutes through devastation. Trees and power lines down, sides of buildings ripped open. It was overwhelming. Slidell was on the outskirts of the storm and our 30 minute look was a tiny slice of the damage of Katrina.
- Seeing the churches rise to the occasion. At a church in Baton Rouge, A Pastor was thanking us for bringing supplies “You guys have helped me turn my gym into a Wal-Mart. When people come here and are taken care of, it makes our church look better, which makes Christ look better.” I am ALL about that.
Catastrophes like this always make me look at my life and what I am trusting. New Orleans trusted in a wall to keep out water, we trust in technology to warn us, I trust in myself, or the things I have. When all those things wash away, so does our trust. Maybe my life is trusting too much in things that can be gone tomorrow. Maybe my trust is misplaced. My Life Journaling during this time reflects the things we all struggle with, for me, it is some trust. Obadiah 3 says “The pride of your heart deceived you.” Ouch. Nothing like kicking a man when he is down. Have I been so proud that I have fooled myself into thinking that I am in control? Have I trusted myself to the point that my life is a bit out of focus? I fear that I have. I may pray this prayer until the day I die: “Less of me, God, more of you.”