More Reflections from Mississippi...

Thursday, April 19, 2007
Another beautiful sunrise today over the Gulf of Mexico... as I sat and watched the sun come up and the waves quietly lapping at the shoreline, I tried to envision what it must have been like that day in late August, 2005, when Katrina struck this beautiful resort area. it was hard to imagine -- with winds reaching gusts of 130 - 170 miles per hour, sending water not only into low-lying areas nearby, but several miles inland, carrying houses, roofs, piers, treasured possessions, trees, lawn furniture -- actually anything in its path -- and depositing them in very unusual locations. Since the waves exceeded 30 feet in height (equivalent to a 3-story building), it was not a surprise to see a mattress lodged high up in a pine tree or parts of houses located on the roofs of other houses. The devastation, some 20 months later, remains obvious... but that is merely the physical destruction. As we have had an opportunity to interact with the local survivors, we have gained insight into the emotional trauma that these people suffered. Not surprisingly, we learned that the divorce rate, the depression rate, the crime rate, and the suicide rate have increased significantly. Yet everyone we have met has been so positive, so thankful, so appreciative. Time after time -- whether shopping for groceries at Super Wal Mart or eating dinner at Rickey's Sea Food Grill in near-by Bay Saint Louis -- strangers have stopped us to say, "Thank you for coming to help us... we could not have made it without you." "You will never know how much your presence has meant to us." "Early on, the media and the celebrities came and stood amidst the devastation, but they soon left and the churches came." Indeed, we began to "put faces" on this diaster, to realize the toll it took on the survivors, each with their own story to share. Yes, Katrina came -- and, over the past 1 1/2 years plus, more than 40,000 United Methodists from 27 states in the U.S.A. have volunteered for the relief effort, primarily in Mississiplpi and Louisiana -- at one of the five Disaster Reflief Centers established by UMCOR. I realize that it is one thing to donate to UMCOR following a disaster in some part of the world -- near or far -- or to contribute to One Great Hour of Sharing -- but these experiences are amplified when we have a chance to give of ourselves -- our time, our skills, our presence -- to those in need. As Kahlil Gibran, in this book, "The Prophet," wrote, "You give but little when you give of your possessions... it is when you give of yourself that you truly give." This week, we have definitely given but we have also received so much in return -- in blessings, in thank you's, in hugs of gratitude, in tears, in smiling faces and laughing eyes of those whose homes are being rebuilt and whose lives are being restored.