Heart of Stone

Today I was blessed to have lunch with Al Sturgeon, Roger Mills, and Trent the youth minister (sorry Trent, no last name in my memory cache) at McAllister's. It was a great hour and a half with non-stop talking and catching up. Les Ferguson would have joined us, but he and his family were in Hot Springs adopting a newborn son. (Congratulations!) On Mike Cope's blog, the Thursday post was mostly about diaster relief and service ministries that are doing a great job helping other people. He gave several helpful links there. Unfortunately, out of 57 (at last count) comments, only two were about disaster relief (and they were mine!). It seems people would rather chat about the ins and outs of church polity than actually discuss ways to bring relief to hurting people. Mike's blog is always excellent ... and I did appreciate his shout-out to me in the comments. I know myself, and I would think by now that my heart would be a little harder toward the stories we hear every day. But it just isn't happening. The heartbreak along the Coast becomes hard to bear at times. We met a very impressive single mother today. This industrious woman has saved almost all of the money that she recieved from FEMA and insurance and wherever. She has only spent what she had to. Her frugal ways and her willingness to seek out help have put her in a class by herself. We meet so many people who get a little money from an organization or two and they go out and buy something they do not really need. But not this lady. In short, she became to us someone we really wanted to help. In her desperation and loss she has survived well. Her daughter will be proud one day. David's tears betrayed his great admiration for this lady. His tears turned to compassion with the next lady we met. An Asian lady who is unable to work due to injuries to her back. Her husband passed away sixteen months ago, leaving her to try to go on without him. What they didn't know is that she would be faced with repairing a flooded home all by herself. Challenges are great for this lady who lives far outside our 15 block area of service. Her tears fell down her face as she expressed her helplessness and desire to be back in her home. In a country that is not her home, looking at a house that is impossible for her to repair, and with painful injuries that keep her from doing things to make her situation better for herself, this helpless woman looked to us for help. And think about it. This is six months after the storm. For six months these ladies have sought out help from every resource they could find. They followed the leads and chased down resources gathered from all kinds of places. And essentially it has not paid off very well. Even the lady with some money is in a quandry because she has no one to hire. The lady with no money and no way to make any money is also facing a lifetime of dilemmas. Sometimes I think it would be easier to have a heart of stone, but I'm glad it's not that way. We had our expected small crowd tonight for worship. I spoke from the Gospel of John about some statements that teach us who Jesus is in our lives. A group of fifteen or so went to Mobile to hear Casting Crowns on the LifeSong tour. Some of the young people were able to go due to a generous donation from Operation Love Thy Neighbor. Thanks, Daved Baker. Tomorrow we will again interview people one after the other who are facing the reality that six months after the storm they are still a long way from where they would like to be. Tomorrow night is the visitation for Richard Carpenter's funeral. Please keep the Carpenter family in your prayers. This is a devastating loss. Richie was 35. Tomorrow night we will also have a 'Good News Night' at Central. I will be speaking again. Below: two brothers in Christ who brought down supplies of all kinds from Bells, Tennessee.