3/27/2007

This one is legal! As stories were traded of the all the happenings at the jobsites yesterday it became apparent that God is the God of bringing people together. Each jobsite has a story. They are not simply jobs that must be completed. They are lives that have been affected deeply, either by the hurricane or by poverty or by alcohol or by drugs or... Now it seems that our lives are being affected as well. The tasks range from putting plumbing and electricity in a brand new house where the old one once stood until Katrina came along, to cleaning out another house that most of us wouldn't use for a storage shed. Shingles have been torn off and are already being put back on. Drywall is being installed by people who didn't know what drywall was before Monday. Brick walls are coming down, paint is going up, rafters are being built, cockroaches are scurrying and mice are losing their homes. A number of people within our group are wrestling with the question of "Are we teaching them to 'fish' or are we only giving them 'fish?'" That is a great and appropriate question to ask. At times we must teach people to fish, but at other times I think it is ok to set up shop and hand the fish out. This week we have the benefit of both giving and receiving fish to eat, and we're eating them together.

I want to share a closing statement given by an 84-year old woman from the church here Sunday night. She has been a member of this church for a better part of her life. She said "In all my years at this church I have never seen the body as close as we are now. If it takes a hurricane to bring us this close together, then I praise God for that storm." I'm sorry I cannot insert her beautiful southern drawl. It was powerful.