Preparing

As I gather the things I will need in New Orleans and begin to pack them into the two plastic tubs I’ll be living out of for the week, I recall the wise words of my friend Pastor Derek Lecakes. “The most important things for you to pack are your patience and flexibility!” Things in New Orleans do not always run according to our plans but I have found that despite the bumps, delays and yes sometimes confusion, God has a way of pulling things together.

I can’t begin to tell you what a blessing these trips have been in my life. This will be my third mission trip to New Orleans. My first was about a year after Katrina hit (about 6 months after accepting Christ into my life). In my opinion there is no better way to grow in Christ then to spend a week eating, sleeping and working beside a group of people who are really living their faith.

That first trip also opened my eyes to how much the people of New Orleans had lost in the storm and subsequent flooding. I had seen the pictures on TV, and read the news, but I couldn't truly appreciate how severe and wide spread the damage was until I witnessed it firsthand. I can remember working in a neighborhood where the water had been between 7- 8 feet deep. There were only a few houses being worked on and many were marked with a red “X”, which meant they had been abandoned and were scheduled to be demolished.

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided peek into one of the abandoned houses. I pushed the front door open as far as I could. The lock had been broken by the rescue workers who had searched the house after the storm. What I saw inside brought me to tears. Imagine everything you own (your furniture, books, photo albums, cloths, food and family heirlooms) left in a wet, smelly, mold covered heap mixed with what used to be your ceiling and walls. Strangely enough, right on the top of this heap were what appeared to be some family pictures.It struck me that a family had left everything they had in life behind, and I had no idea whether they made it away safely, or had lost their lives.

In comparison to this my problems suddenly felt very small and I gained a new appreciation for the blessings God has granted me in life.

I have witnessed God’s power and Grace first hand on these trips and as I prepare for a third I thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to be part of something that is so amazing, life changing and rewarding.

If ever you have the opportunity to take a trip like this I urge you to take it. I think you will find that you’ll get more out of it then you could ever imagine.