Day Five continued...

Written by Bruce Flohr:
As some us of drove around today (Thursday), working with a checklist to ascertain the condition of New Orleans’ neighborhoods - we experienced sadness, awe, and a glimpse at how great a scope of devastation this really is. You look on the sides of homes and businesses, office parks and hospitals, and you see the water marks- in many cases well over your head. You realize that this affected everybody who lives down here in this area. People of all colors were affected, people of all economic levels were affected, and people of all faiths were affected. Some may never return, some most certainly never will return. Many feel they have nothing left to come back to. Residences that were once full of life are now a vast wasteland. Neighbors are separated, in some instances, even families are now separated. When you walk up to a house that was once much like your own in a typical suburban neighborhood now with weeds waist deep, trees shattered, and bushes overgrown, you sense what it might be like after a war or some nuclear calamity.

Some homes a year and a half after Katrina are now home only to the rats. As you peer in the windows and smell the mold and see furniture, clothing and papers all tumbled this way and that, you realize that this is or was somebody’s life that you are looking at! What brought them joy and comfort. What took perhaps years of hard work to acquire…and you realize from these treasured possessions that very little if anything is salvageable. How hopeless these people must feel if their lives are not centered in the good Lord above. Some are struggling with politics and insurance companies to find some sort of monetary compensation to get their lives rolling again. Some homes have been leveled; all that remains is the slab. That could have been your next door neighbor. Others have been gutted of the drywall. Personal belongings have been thrown away due to the contamination of raw sewage, chemicals and oil spills from ruptured tanks at the refineries. Even entire lawns have had their top soil removed because of the toxic levels of contamination. Satan has tried to contaminate these people’s lives with discouragement and his lies. Only the spiritually strong will survive here.

On the brighter side, some homes and businesses are rebuilding. Today I even saw a man washing his truck and kids playing basketball in their neighborhood; a little semblance of normality amongst much destruction. The air carried sounds of birds singing their songs of new hope for spring time. Hammers and saws could be heard from both carpenters and church volunteers helping to build again. Throughout everything that we saw, heard and experienced today, we are thankful that our families our safe, our homes are safe and our churches are safe back in Fort Wayne. We pray that New Orleans can once again recover from another hurricane. You need to come down here yourself; to really get an idea of the immensity of what has happened here.

This week’s mission has really helped me grow in not only a better understanding of others lives but in my own - and where God fits into all of this. God always has a plan, we cannot always understand it or perhaps agree with it, but it’s there; undeniably there. Keep the faith!