Sunday on the Coast

We had good services today with guest songleaders. Same ole preacher, though. I preached from Matthew 26 about the woman who poured the perfume on Jesus' head and how he thought it was a beautiful gesture. Then I talked about Matthew 25, the great judgment scene. The people who received no condemnation were the ones who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked and visited the sick. Then I reminded the church that the people we are helping should be viewed as Jesus himself. Of course I was all verklempt within three minutes of the beginning of my sermon ... these days the tears flow easily. I think we had about 120 present, including relief workers and community visitors. Many teams are out today working. There is a group of 9 college age students from KANAKUK KAMPS ... we believe they will be supplying workers for some time to come down and help. We are regularly receiving help from non-Church-of-Christ believers. This makes me rejoice as we all go out into the community to serve in the name of Christ. Of course many restoration Christians continue to come and serve. We had a couple of sisters from a Christian church in North Carolina who worked very hard this weekend. One of them decided to stay an extra week. Her husband will come down and stay a few days at the end of the week. I'm happy that we have the kind of work going on here that endears itself to people and causes us to join together to be a healing source of love for the hurting around us. On a personal note, more work was done in my house today. Some brothers from Nashville cleaned it out this morning, removing some sheetrock debris. Also a man named Carlos who has been here helping us for the past month ripped out my cabinets. I have enjoyed getting to know Carlos and growing in friendship with him. He has a good heart. There are many others, of course, that have become engrafted into our hearts as we serve side by side. this is a testimony that even a storm the magnitude of Katrina cannot dominate the human spirit, and nor can it diminish the Creation of God in each of us. As a reminder, I continue to update pictures HERE. I have been unable to update our church website. I cannot locate the Frontpage software. But when I find it in the pile of stuff upstairs, I'll get that updated as well. I appreciate all of your prayers and thoughts ... they lift me up. I don't know if blogger Tommy has gone home or is still here ... I enjoyed getting to meet him face to face, though. Until next time... Love and Grace to each of you.