The Starfish Rescuers - adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean. He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean." "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die." Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!" At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."
That story constantly replays over and over again in my mind as we work down here. It is so rewarding to know that we are working for the LORD as well. :o)
Well the man that we moved yesterday was named Dennis. We got our stories confused and what I wrote yesterday is not accurate. We are not completely clear on what the situation is, but Dennis and his wife Jackie will not be living together. They have not lived together since 2002 due to health concerns, as in, they cannot take care of each others physical needs. Why they are not under the same health care program is still a mystery to us. We really do not know that much about their story, he let us pray with him and was very grateful for that and for our helping hands. This took us practically all day to accomplish. They both are in a safer part of town now and Dennis seemed to be very happy to move ahead with his life as he left what was left of his home behind. Aside from moving him, some of the men boarded up the doors and windows. Not only do you get a fine if your lawn is not mowed, but if your doors are not locked or there is an opening of any kind, like in the windows, you can be fined too, Dennis said. The home will now sit there until a certain program that he is with will buy it from him. A lot of details to that side of the story though. It was hard to find Dennis’ home because the directions from the computer may be accurate but the street signs here are either half torn off, turned every which way or just non existent! Someone has taken the back of the white, advertising signs and in black electrical tape made a make-shift street sign and posted it where it belongs! Thank you Jesus! J
Some houses down here have been gutted out and ready to be rebuilt inside and then the homeowners decided they are not coming back, so the home gets demolished. All that work that perhaps a youth group or missions group or whoever did, wasted, because it just ends up demolished down to the cement foundation. There are no basements here of course and many of the homes are brick to keep the termites away.
Now, what happens if insurance won’t pay up after the storm you might ask? Well the insurance company says, ‘sorry, it was wind damage and you don’t have that in your policy’ or ‘…it was flooding and you are not covered for that.’ Some folks have intentionally set fire to their home because, guess what? Insurance covers that! They of course don’t want to get caught on ‘how’ the fire started, but the insurance agents and arson inspectors are just so busy that the homeowner usually gets away with it.
If you view pictures of homes down here you may see a huge ‘X’ painted on the house or garage that faces the street. Larry told us that the first quadrant is the date that it was inspected, the left is the initials of who inspected it, the lower is the number of ‘bodies’ found and to the right is the number of animals (pets) found that did not survive. If the quadrant is left blank that is equivalent to zero.
Katie said that it will take anywhere between 8 to 12 years before everything is back to normal. This means, economically, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Really something to think about isn't it? A couple days before the trip my husband, Caleb and I were talking about what it would be like to come down here and to have to adjust to the fact that this is the people’s normal lifestyle now. See, in the north, we don’t understand hurricane or earthquake, but we do understand snow and tornadoes. I really like the analogy that Caleb gave. He said “It would be like if in 2005 our city was hit over the weekend with a massive blizzard and still to this day and for years to come we are trying to undo everything that the storm did.” Wow.
Last night we went to a classic restaurant down here called, Mandinas. Many people tried new and tasty foods. Turtle soup, Gumbo soup, trout, crab, craw fish, yes, we really experienced what New Orleans had to offer! The people here also enjoy rice and red beans, anything with Tabasco sauce on it and Cajun foods! Then we went and walked down Bourbon Street which is in the French Quarter, many of us had never been there before. As we walked past a closed gated park I asked what all the commotions was going on inside. A crew worker said they were shooting a movie and nobody famous was in it and it was going to be a historical movie. We couldn't really see much but we heard “Quiet on the set!” and that was really interesting with all the bright lights everywhere and people in their costumes and makeup.
Today a bunch of people went out and surveyed over 75 homes to see what the status of the area was because the city had not heard back from them. Had the lawn been mowed, any sign of people living there, any windows not boarded up? Questions like that that needed to be answered. The rest of us stayed back and did lawn care and pouring and striking cement for the sidewalk that goes around the pond here at camp. The women’s shower room is still under way as the electrician came today and so now Duane can move forward with that.
I think our plans for tomorrow are to get up, clean up the camp one last time, pack our bags, say our goodbyes and hit the road. So I am not sure if I will get a chance to get back on here and update “ya’ll!” If not, thank you again for your prayers. This has been quite the adventure and we look forward to sharing more with you. Hopefully later this evening I will be able to post individual team members entries on what they have to say about this experience. :)
Saved by Grace,
Charlene
2 Tim. 4:7-8
Phil 3:13-14
Mat. 25:40
Phil 3:13-14
Mat. 25:40
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