Sunday Respite

Worship at Gateway was wonderful this morning. Ed Humphries led an outstanding set of worship songs. Danny Dodd's message recounted the hurricane relief efforts of the past few days and upcoming days. All of the hurricane refugees were invited to the front where the elders gathered around and prayed for us - and all of the hurricane victims. Then Bud and Eva Myer treated our family to a wonderful lunch in their beautiful home. We are pretty washed out, and apprehensive about getting back to the grind tomorrow. I think about the people who didn't have a Sunday respite ... who didn't take a break...and couldn't. PICTURES ARE NOW UP ON MY WEBSHOTS PAGE. See link to John's Photos on left. Tomorrow we will leave from Pensacola at 5:30 a.m. to head back to Pascagoula to work. Perhaps we will get through with getting the wet carpet and mattresses out of the house. I don't know where we will go from there. I keep thinking about things we need to do, and then it hits me that we are homeless. And until that issue is settled, everything else seems pointless. Thanks for many offers of housing for our members. We have had offers from Canada, Colorado, and places even closer! That's awesome. I have not had any requests for out-of-town housing, but I will keep all of those e-mails and be aware of any needs such as those. I have been wanting to blog about something, and this seems a good time to do it. It was going to be announced at church last Sunday, but the storm hindered that. I think word is getting out anyway. Our congregation was suffering a financial shortfall, and it had been agreed that I would seek out secular work, and preach part-time. However, with the arrival of Katrina, we will have even less resources. This has several implications, which I'm sure are clear to you. That's a personal insight into my world, in addition to the physical destruction around. If Ben or Gary are reading this, please give me a call ... I want to talk to you some more about what you called about. Paul, if you have further ideas, you need to call me. Now for an update as to what's happening here: *Churches of Christ Diaster Relief is sending an assessment team in tomorrow to determine their ability to help with our needs. Their hope is to provide hot meals from our property, which will be awesome. They have helpers / generators on the way. *Work teams from Gateway, Pensacola, will be heading to the Mississippi Gulf Coast tomorrow. *I understand that the crew from Louisville, KY may be coming in as early as Tuesday. *A group from Conyers, GA will be in Friday. NEEDS I was able to visit with some of our members yesterday. They have much damage, such as I do, with flood waters. If 300 people came to help, I'm sure they could stay busy. Manpower and money continue to be the biggest needs. However, anyone who comes needs to bring a tent, as we have no accomodations at all. I wish it were different. Or you could arrange to stay in Mobile with Christians. These are a list of needs from yesterday's post: Financial contributions can be sent to: Gateway Church of Christ 245 Brent Lane Pensacola, FL 32503 (earmark it for Pascagoula, if you wish - or whichever congregation you would like to give to. A contribution not earmarked will likely be distributed based upon need.) *Once our building is cleared, we can begin to form an area for storing and sharing materials, food, water, limited clothing, and having worship services. I hope to offer a daily chapel as well for our neighborhood. I would even love for groups to come and do work in the neighborhoods, inviting people to daily chapel in the early evening. Some collections could be made for coffee, coffee filters, coffee cups, sugar, creamer, to offer to our guests for conversation following the chapel service. Area preachers / deacons / speakers / singers / groups welcome to volunteer to come over and speak to whoever might show up! *Once our building is cleared we will need plastic tables (hard plastic, sturdy) and chairs for use at both worship times and for feeding people. We have nothing like this at the time. At some point we will need to recover our floor. I am going to suggest that we use lamiant (sp?) instead of carpet. Also, we have a curved floor (theater style), and I would like for it to be flat. Any concrete workers out there? *No doubt it will be some time before flooring and order is back in place at Central. I would like to borrow the use of a nice camper / small moveable trailer that can be used as a temporary office / staging area / communications center. *I am in need of replacing a flooded car (and my daughter as well has to replace her car). Any reputable Christian car dealers who can help us? We will have some insurance money ... at some point. *When our building is clear we can begin accepting material donations ... I will list those at that time ... water, MREs, and ice are offered by the government and are available. I would think maybe t-shirts, shorts, socks. Plus care packages with hand sanitizer, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, wipes, gum, etc. Also, diapers (including adult diapers) and feminine needs would be a great thing to have on hand. Anyone who wishes to help with this can go ahead and begin assembling personal care packages in preparation to send them down. Put them in clear ziplock bags, so we can see what is in them. If the crew from KY and GA are successful in getting our building back up and running, we could have services Sunday. However, we have no seating / tables - these will become immediate needs. We would like to buy / receive the plastic tables, as they are easier to manage. NEW NEEDS I do not know how our sound system came out ... will know more when power arrives. We might need some kind of portable amplification system temporarily until we can get up and running. If I had a towbar on the back of my van and a trailer, I could be of more help in getting gas into the area as well as transporting things donated to appropriate places. I do not know much about what is involved in these areas. We are not alone in our suffering. For information about the Long Beach Church of Christ: http://longbeachcoc.org Other Gulf Coast churches are suffering as well ... and if I get internet info about them in particular, I will pass along. Well, this is getting long ... thanks for your interest and your gifts and your prayers. I'm practicing just placing our needs out here...and asking. I do not feel good about it...it's easier to be a giver than a receiver. However, I hope to help others in the mean time, with the things we receive. I appreciate all of your thoughts. Your ideas are also welcomed. Blessings to all, john