My Ebenezer

Tonight, our church provided a free dinner to all the area evacuees of hurricaine Katrina. I helped pass out flyers to area hotels and got to talk with a lot of hurting people. I got to be the hands and feet of Christ for them. I’m too tired to make it sound pretty or moving - the experience was too raw for that anyway. People are hurting and they need the Body of Christ to lift them up. People I won’t easily forget:

The first lady I got to speak with won’t leave my mind’s eye. She was an elderly woman of about 75 or so and although she had a sweet disposition, her heart was clearly broken. Through her tears she talked of her kids and grandkids who fled with her and were safe. With tears spilling down her face she said, “but our husbands. Our husbands stayed behind. We don’t know. We just don’t know.”

A couple we met in the parking lot of Wal-Mart with their small child. Packing up their vehicle with plans to head back to Slidell, La. “My mom and step dad are stuck there. They live in a three story house so we believe they are okay, but we have to get to them. No one else will. We have to. My step dad is a diabetic. We’re going to rescue them.” As the man loaded his car with supplies and rubber boots, he said their next stop was Academy and he was going to buy a boat.

A woman who sat alone, crying on a bench in front of her hotel. I sat down beside her and just put my arm around her. “i’m sorry,” i said. “so sorry.” “I’ve lost it all. Everything is gone. I don’t even have my checkbook. I can’t even get to my money in the bank - it was a local bank in New Orleans. I have nothing.” I asked what she would do until she could go back ….”I’m not going back. I have nothing to go back to. I think i’m going to Tennessee…i have some family there. My home is gone.”

Then there are the beautiful people who showed up tonight for a free meal and a praise and worship service. We fed them. We hugged them. We prayed with them. We loved them. They told us they would be okay. They told us that God is good.

Gaynelle was there with her 5 year old nephew. Through tears she said, “i’m not hungry. I just came for the worship. I need to worship.” She explained that Tobius was her nephew and that her mother and sister stayed behind. They couldn’t get out - I don’t think they had any means to get out. So she took Tobius and they fled and now they don’t know about Tobius’s mom or her mom. They can’t get through and they just don’t know.

There were some their who had their entire families with them. Some had left family behind. All left someone behind. The common answer was “we just don’t know.”

The worship service was amazing. More “Amens” and “hallelluhah’s” (i don’t know how to spell halleluyah) than i’ve ever heard in a single service. These people were praising God with tears streaming down their faces.

I have yet to tell you of another group of people who touched my heart in a very special way this evening. Our church family and other church families poured out their hearts, their wallets and their time to make this meal happen. We fed about 250-300 people and there were at least that many volunteers there helping. We had a ton of food left over. Everyone wanted to do something.

These are some of the faces of Katrina:

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