Ocean Springs Trip

Man, I am tired, physically, emotionally and spritually. And I'm not even one of the ones pulling down drywall and nails, and hauling it out to the curb. Even so, I think of those who have been living in this area and fighting this fight since August, and I can't imagine how tired of all of this they must be.

And, in the midst of that, God is at work to bridge divides like class and racial ones that otherwise seem insurmountable.

Take, for example, Myra (not her name). Myra is African American, and has a beautiful French-Cajun accent. We visited her in front of her house in her FEMA trailer. She just got into it; they finally got it all hooked up to power, water and sewer so she could live in it. Her tiny trailer was immaculate and even decorated with curtains, table accents, and flowers on the TV that all matched in color. Seriously, it looked better than Martha Stewart could ever have done with a FEMA trailer.

Myra explained that she and her husband had purchased the house around ten years ago. They worked for hours and hours to fix it up, over they years. They redid the entire interior. I mentioned that her trailor was beautifully decorated, and she said, "Yes, and imagine how my house looked!" From what I saw, it must have been amazing.

This was their dream house. The kids had recently left, and retirement was coming soon. The Golden Years were just around the corner. And her husband suddenly died from the Flu in June. The Flu, of all things! Hurricane Katrina caused a small 4 foot wide creek to rise a dozen feet and take their house two month later. She lives five miles from the coast of the bay!

I remember when my grandpa died, my grandma couldn't open his closet for a year to even begin to consider getting rid of his clothes. I can't imagine what would have happened to her if she lost her home.

The crews were taking out the bottom half of the walls (to clean the studs from mold) because she didn't want to take out the top, even though it needed to be taken out because water had hit it too. I think it was because she was clinging to as much of her husband as she could. Even so, it all had to come out, all the way up to the roof.

All we saw was someone who needed help, love and compassion. All she saw was someone who was coming to help in Christ's name. Class and race didn't matter. Would it have been any different, had we met with all other things being equal? I would think so.

Then again, there is Terry (not his name either). He lived in a "house" built in the back yard of his sister's house in the "inner city" of Biloxi. His house was the size of a one car garage. Terry is African American. He did contract work, and lost all of his tools to the flooding. Terry is slowly buying replacement tools as he works in restoring one of the casinos, and hopes to soon garner enough tools to be able to answer some of the many requests he has had from residents of his neighborhood to help rebuild.

Terry also had $2000 or more worth of dance DJ equipment and music. He had hundreds and hundreds of comic books, several of them "number 1" editions, including Spiderman, Batman and Superman.

Katrina took all of that from him.

Even so, Terry was not bitter. He didn't blame anyone. Terry was thankful for the Christus Victor work crew, and was working to put his life together. And Terry made an inspiring comment, that I will do my best to quote. Out of nowhere, Terry, said, "And this storm was a great equalizer. In my neighborhood, which had a lot of drugs in it and was pretty rough before the hurricane, there aren't black or white people, rich or poor any more. We all got done in by Katrina and we are all in this together."

Wow.

I shared a story that Tony, on Christus Victor's staff (I have permission to share this) shared with me about her well-to-do brother, who is a lawyer. I told Terry that I had heard about a lawyer with a $500,000 house who lost it all in the hurricane. He nodded in agreement as I shared the story. I told him that even though his house was worth $500,000, with his income, it was similar to someone else who lost a $50,000 house. To my surprise, Terry nodded in agreement and said, "That's right!" From the look on his face, I could see true understanding and compassion for this lawyer. I then told Terry that this man had an extensive rare art collection that was stolen by looters on two occasions. One of those times, it was stolen by the National Guard troops, and this dispicable act of thievary was caught on film by a neighbor.

Terry said, with a knowing smile, "I know what that is like." He then said that he had remained behind to protect his stuff during the storm, and that now it is gone in spite of his efforts to save it. From now on, he will leave even if it is a category 1 storm.

The bottom line for me is this: without Katrina, we would never have had this conversation. Myra would have walked right by me. Terry would have looked at the ground and kept to his business. I would have looked past either one of them. The work crews would never have gone to these neighborhoods.

Yet God used this tragedy to bridge divides, make connections and relationships, and heal divisions that have been in places for hundreds of years. I pray that we have both gained an appreciation and respect for one another, one that is based on our mutual humanity and worth in God's eyes, and that will not see human divisions like class and race.

Only God can bring something this good from something this bad.

And, these are only two stories!!!!