Comfort

She walked up to the bus today. Her clothes and hair told me that she had been working in her house. That means bleach, carrying out debris, endless cleaning, and little progress being made. In the bus were some teens from Gateway Church of Christ in Pensacola and their youth minister Eric Petty. I saw her looking at a box of stuffed animals sitting by my side. Without a word she leaned into the bus and picked up a teddy bear. I awkwardly said, “Do you have a grandchild that would like a toy?” She said, “Is there anything wrong with a grown woman needing a teddy bear?” I told her, “not at all”. She hugged the bear and said, “I’ve had a rough day.” For about five minutes there was silence on the bus. In the presence of a unknown woman’s pain, much of our own complaints seemed small. Thanks to Eric and Scott and the Gateway folks for being over here. David and Mae Jordan (also of Gateway) were here today as well. Thanks also for going to the store to buy pillows to give away. Pictures of our day are on my picture page. I thought that tomorrow’s crew was down to our regulars (who are all great!), but then we got phone calls from Tommy Stewart and Bill Ford, who are on their way here. Maybe others will show up and help us out. The Lord will provide! Donna Gossett is coming Wednesday, and I’m looking forward to meeting her. She has been a great encouragement to our family in many ways. We had a team of five or six FEMA representatives today, and they are going to help us with assistance and organization. They were very impressive people. Also we had Lee Solomon and two associates with us today. They are connected with http://www.ides.org. Before they left, they provided about 45 cookware sets for us to take to the FEMA campers down the road. We distributed ten of the sets today. It was a joy to meet them. Oh, and by the way, that 'mystery church' that sent the coffee and chocolate a few days ago was the Christian Home Church of Christ in Newton, Alabama. I just knew they were 'near Dothan', so I did know someone from there after all. Some very special someones! Thanks Terry & Sara Jo. We should now be listed on the Mississippi Commission For Volunteer Service website. They called twice yesterday to get information. They, along with AmeriCorps can offer us some manpower along the way. And perhaps some of the volunteers can get something out of it as well. I never know what to expect on the day called “tomorrow”, but whatever it is, I’m sure God is already there walking ahead of us and we need only to follow in His path. I pray the same for you.