Long Time no Post

well its been a very busy summer and fall. It took me some time to remember how to post to blogger, but now that I remember, I will attempt to catch up.

As many as I can remember

One of the first was Tom from Alabama, who was gracious enough to show me the pot scrubbing station. Now Tom was a big fella like me and what with me growing up in Mississippi we just seemed to hit it off. I got his good ol boy jokes where some of the city folk and yankees did not. Next came Barbara who if I remember correctly was stirring a large kettle of corn on a fish cooker. I learned the difficulty of not burning while bringing up to correct temperature. Randall was next and it took me a day or 2 to make the connection that he was Barbara's husband. Now Randall was one of those little guys who would just plum work you into the ground. He was a great pleasure to work with. And we spent more than a few hours at the sinks together. The 3 ladies in the kitchen knew their domain and shoo'd me out in a right good hurry. They were gracious enough to let me boil the water to heat the cambro's, as long as I was not in the kitchen. HA. OK, thats it, I have got to find my journal. Cause we had 2 lead cooks, a blue cap, the fella doing warehouse and a bunch of others that its hurting my feelings not being able to mention them by name. So I am going to shelve this for now and move on to the next post which will be: Thoughts and emotions.

Write it down

It was suprising to me how little time was available for personal stuff. Folks in Utah saw me sitting down to journal, and that I tried to do most every chance I had. Cause you see these almost 2 years later and I can hardly remember anyones name. That in my personal opinion is a bad thing. I have always had a terrible time with names. Faces I remember, but names, no way. Too make maters worse I have misplaced the journal. On a mission you have upwards of 20 or more people to interact with. Utah was a small operation. You have this vast miriad of emotions. Utah was one of the tough assignments. See, Fuzzy was the expert on mines, and he was letting us know how truly bleak the situation was. This was oppisite of the hopefull expectation of some and the praying for a miracle of most of us. Had I been a good steward of God's provision I would have been better prepared. Having a lap top, having a blog site, shoot - just having e=mail would have been a vast improvement. With the Lord's blessing and grace I am moving in that direction.

Next post: As many as I can remember

Working as a team

One of the hardest things to accomplish with a diversity of individuals is team work. Unless, Christ is the true leader, then things fall more easily into place. Most of the time you have no lack of individuals who want to be in charge which makes for conflict. And then you have folks like me. So dad burn excited to be there they just want to try everything. Let me take the time here to humble myself and confess. See I owe a sister in Christ an appology. I did not smoothly allow her excitement the same easy access I was allowed in Utah. I was a bore. A grumpy old man. And more than a bit snippy. If you should find yourself with these less than Christ like attitudes, do what I did not do until too late. Hit your knees at the altar and pray until they pass. But back to Utah. After saying good morning to Fuzzy and stepping out into the sunshine, the place was buzzing with activity. Now we were set up on a church property which was being maintained by the local association. Deep in Mormon country, the congregation and pastor had not been able to make a go of it. At the national level southern baptists have 2 primary team mates. 1st is the american red cross. 2nd is the salvation army. All 3 would be involved here in Utah. Our sleeping quarters were in the church, the kitchen was set up in the parking lot along with the supply trailer, the dry box trailer and the refer trailer. The fellowship hall of the church was were the command center was, along with our dining/meeting room. The shower trailer was set up out back. Man was I excited to be there. Sleepyness was gone. What I should of done, did not do, was to check in with the blue cap to find out who I had been assigned to and check with them as to what duties I had been assigned. Mr excitement here took one look around and jumped with both feet. Airborne! The washing station needed a little help, then the cook on the fish cookers, then warehouse, then main kitchen, then, then, then, I was all over. God bless my brothers and sisters for tolerating me. I loved it all. All positions are vital to one another. Teamwork is essential. So too is Leadership. There is a lead cook for a reason. They report to the blue cap for a reason. Who in turn reports to the white cap for a reason. The more effective the leadership, the more effective the teamwork leeds to more effective productivity. We were here for a reason. In the name of Christ to ease the burden of those living the situation and those responding to the situation. If we were not cooking, we were cleaning up. Done with that we were preparing for the next meal. I would bet that everyone was like me in sending up prayers throughout the day. Waiting on the next situation report. And at night coming together to have group prayer, devotional and team meeting. That first night I crashed. Hard. Good thing cause over the next several nights I would hardly sleep at all. Parts of 3 teams were involved. Utah, Idaho & Arizona. Folks from all over. Men and women. The youngest was 20 something, the oldest 80 something. I hope to learn how to post photo's so you can see more clearly what I am saying. Cause you see, to me, these disaster call outs are like the local church. Or more like what the local church should be. If you consider we live in the midst of a lost, dying world, we should come to it in the name of Christ to ease the burden of the lost, by example show them the love of Christ, encourage them to turn to Christ. And in so doing we would be the responders to the situation, not just sitting back with our 'fire' insurance card, but assisting the team.

I would catch glimses of Fuzzy throughout the day. Man, what an inspiration. Helping. Serving. Even keeled. Constantly on the move. Meeting everyone. Just possibly the most Christ like man I have ever met. Thank you Lord.

Next post: Write it down.

Utah - the trip up

I had found myself for some time being a news junkie. It allowed me to pray for folks I did not know, for situations I had little experiance in, for our country as a whole. Truth be told, I had an almost overwhelming desire to go and help. When the news broke about the mine colapse, once again it seemed the country was coming together in prayer. It allowed in places conversations about prayer and God that one would not normally be allowed to bring up, work, business, neighbors, etc.. The flash went out from the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention - Disaster Relief web site. I responded as led by the Holy Spirit. It felt like the time we went on alert in the Army. The whole division of the 101st Airborne. Loaded for bear, sitting on the tarmac waiting to board the C-130's. We were going to defend Israel. Exciting yes, Scary yes, a job trained for and now being called on to do. Lord use me. Except there would be no C-130's this day. My truck with a broken lifter rod would not make Utah. So I would need to hitch a ride. This will be a long trip and my 1st introduction to Fuzzy. Fuzzy & I played phone tag for awhile, but finally made arraingements for him to pick me up around 2pm from my work place. Fuzzy was an old guy. Shoot I was 52 at the time, but I remember thinking 'this trip could be interesting'. He reminded me of an ole farmer, slow to speak, hard to read. This was going to be a lot different than my daily contacts and would you look at that. His truck was just like mine. Well except his was working and well stocked for just about anything that might come along. On the way to Phoenix was mostly get to know you conversation, not that Fuzzy was chatty by any means. And the trip was going faster than I had suspected upon 1st seeing him. Now on a trip I usually have the map out close by, refer to it, and keep track of where I'm at. Fuzzy just drove. When I asked him, his response was "well, I been this way a few times". From Phoenix up to the State line is where I found out Fuzzy had been in mining most of his life. Had in fact been the leader for a rescue team. Underground mining. Like what we were heading towards. I came to understand 2 things on this part of the trip. I had not understood the grim reality of the situation fully, and God places people in your path for a reason. Now up around Page is where Fuzzy scared me. Ummm brother Fuzzy did you know the speed limit dropped to 35 a little ways back? Oh, thanks he says. Then tells me a story about a grandson "we be good grandpa, we be good.". Now being a big guy, I hate seat belts. Yeah, I know, the law. But this was a long trip and its dark. I had just told Fuzzy the speed limit again when I saw a patrol car flip a U in the medium and take off. After us. Dang - where is that seat belt. Good thing we were wearing out yellow shirts and hats with the disaster relief logo. Good thing it was Fuzzy driving and talking to the officer. Good thing the officer was simpathetic towards the folks in Utah. A lighter slap on the wrist I have not seen. Answered prayer is what it was. The seat belt stayed on for a good long while. Wonder what all those red streaks are on the road. Man, thats alot of them. Ok Lord, Utah is starting to freak me out a little cause that looks like a lot of blood to me. One set went on for miles. Then we caught up to the truck picking up dead deer from the sides of the road. OK. Don't see that, ever. And thats when we meet them. A whole herd. Scattered all over the road, chatting or whatever deer do while standing in the middle of the road. Good thing Fuzzy was driving. Cause I don't think my reflexes are that quick. Didn't even tap one, not that I couldn't have petted a few as we went by, had my window been rolled down. Ok Lord, Utah is really starting to freak me out. We had been on the road a long time. 14 hours or so. Hunnington is not all that big, really. We find the church after a few turn arounds unpack just enough to bed down. Another first. Sleeping in the church, well at least on a pallet on the floor. Takes me awhile to get settled with my C=pap breathing machine and fall asleep. Thank you Lord. Please Lord, stop them folk from coming in and out and waking me up. But I managed about 4 hours before finally giving up and getting up. Well, lets see what the Lord has in mind for this day. Now be quiet, cause Fuzzy is still sleeping. If I'm this tired, that old guy must be. So I open the door to the church and meet on his way in - Fuzzy. Who had been up and working, for awhile. Now I don't think he actually said it, but in my mind I destinctly heard, "bout time you was up".

Next post: working as a team.

Utah part 1

The Utah mine disaster was my first official call out with the AZ DRT. Some mighty impressive things happened on this mission. Its not until now that I can more clearly see the hand of our Lord at work. Not just for the 10 day mission, but the years of preperation for it. This will take several parts to do the witness justice. See, several years ago I had drifted away from the church, worse the Lord. Having been born and raised a catholic (see no ones perfect) and going thru my first communion in MS, I knew of Jesus and God. But coming from an unequally yoked family did not help. Only when in need did I turn to the Lord. Maybe a little more when I was in the Army jumping out of airplanes. And on several occasions after becoming a nurse, mostly over patients who were close to going home to the Lord. Our Lord is patient with us, He kept calling me and I finally accepted the call in a small church in Marshall, MO. Tears, snot, broken heart, the whole deal. I felt the crushing sin I had placed on the Lord on the cross for me. Jan & I later returned to Tucson and for awhile attended our current church, only to drift away. The problem with drifting is the Lord will raise His hand of protection until you look around and say "Hey where'd ya go Lord?" Well I can tell you, He didn't go anywhere. I did. To a dark place. To a place I do not recommend. To a place that tried to kill me. Of my own doing. So one day during monsoon, standing on the trailer, holding onto the large metal swamp cooler, watching a very intense lightening storm come at me (have I mentioned yet I'm mostly Polish). I decide to challenge God. Screaming at Him. Cursing at Him. Now I don't know if you know it or not but lightening can travel several miles in a strike, carries more voltage than necessary to crisp a crazy polish boy on a roof, and when it strikes close enough will send you to your knees out of shear reflex. On my knees is where I needed to be. It is where I heard that still quiet voice say "You want to come home? Go back to the church I put you in, complete the duties I have for you, then you can come home." So back to Flowing Wells Baptist Chruch. To the breakfast ministry. To the 3 fold passage of "feed my sheep". To find missions, most specifically - disaster relief. To engage in the necessary training. All the ups and downs. All in preperation to serve. He knew I would need all of this in Utah. I found out also. That, and you absolutely need to have a close relationship to Christ. To depend on Him for all things daily, sometimes minute by minute. That you are not alone. You have Christ. You have brothers and sisters in Christ. You get to choose.

Next post: Utah part 2 - the trip up.

Crown Ministry

I thank the Lord throughout the day, everyday, for the many and continuous blessings He sends my way. I have noticed as I reread thru my blogs that I use I alot. We walk this path together. We is the indwelling Holy Spirit and myself. For you see with out the Lord sending the Holy Spirit to me after I accepted Him as Lord and Savior, I would not be lead to go on mission trips or tackle in depth bible studies. Not in my flesh. Though there are many examples in scripture, I think Paul says it best. "Those things I would do, I do not. Those things I would not do, I do". A constant battle within and ole satan without. satan will come at you from all sides if he thinks you are attempting to do most anything for the Lord and His kingdom. satan does not want you to succeed. The Lord does. Could be why a crown is waiting for those that persevere. I had attempted to take Crown Financial Ministry prior to the MS trip, but Jan was not ready, and by myself, well, I just did not finish. The sin of course was the squandering of the Lords blessing. Heaped upon that was coveting. That lead to excessive debt. Stupid. As the Lord continued to raise his hand of protection from around me, due to my disobedience, He also softly spoke of a way back to Him. A biblical way. After much prayer and conversation Jan & I took the class and completed it. Now ours was a 12 week study, they have shortened it to 10. If you think a couple of hours once a week and an hour each day is too much then don't take the class. From my experience you would be wrong. I was. The class is not the 'hard' part. The hard part is choosing to live the lesson. I have a dear brother and sister in Christ who not only took the class but have also taught it on several occasions. They have become discouraged. If I understand their position, its because they did not see the "effects" of the class they were expecting. I believe one of the statements were along the lines of 'everyone who takes the class goes out and buys a new car'. Interesting. Jan & I had taken a brand new car to MS. Christ does not punish us each and every time we sin. He gently calls us to move towards Him. We deserve that ungiven punishment, He showers mercy and grace. Crown in my humble opinion is directed towards those with some wealth. Those that have not ruined their credit. Towards those that a relatively simple readjustment of the percentage of income page and all will be fine. That was not me. The easiest way would have been to file bankruptcy and start fresh. That was not the leading I was getting from my prayers. See, sometimes the sweetest reward is the one you have to work very hard for. Not by your own, and not on your own. The choosing to make Christ Lord. The actual, painful, this is where I am and over there is where the Lord would have me be. Mine was a long uphill rocky trek. I'm still on it. Because it is not, NOT, I took the course, completed it, succeeded! whats next. Biblical financial "Crown Ministry" is lifelong. You will not know of your level of success this side of glory. There are some bench marks for sure. But they do not easily apply to all. Lord willing Jan & I will be debt free in about 2 more years. I personally feel the gas crisis is satan's doing, but that's me. Free of debt is one of the benchmark goals. As in "neither a debtor nor lender be". Now understand this Tithing is not the goal. God does not need our money! The primary goal is a change of heart. Think of Christs example of the widow and the 2 mites. Does most of the resources God provides you go towards building and strengthening his Kingdom? Or, towards self, or the world or worse towards satan's. Take the class, do the work, read the scriptures, let the Holy Spirit guide you. See one needs food and water to sustain life, one does not need $8. per lb steak or $5. cup coffee. One may need transportation and that reliable. One does not need a Lexus or Jaguar, or if he is to be believed a young man from work who boasts of his $1ooK mustang with NOS injection system. You are the basic block of God's system, know this. That is why Jesus came to save you. From there its your family, then the church, then missionaries and outward from there. The easy ones are the $100. per hour income and above. It gets really tough at minimum wage. Below that sometimes its just by Gods good grace, the ability to survive. One of the benchmarks towards the end of your life is the inheritance you can leave for the following generations. At this point I will be lucky to get into potters field, but, I see light at the end of the tunnel where I could see none before. That thru Christ. Take the course. You will absolutely get something entirely different than I did. How do I know? Christ will take those things you need to work on and bring them to the forefront. He did for me. Thank you Lord.

Next post: Utah.

Saying goodbye

The team had put in a long hard weeks work for the Lord. Tired, but full. Poured out like water on sand yet, rewarded beyond measure. We had decided to stay for Sunday morning service and the make the long trip to Marshall, Mo in 1 day. The church was full to the brim. Pastor Don's message though long forgotten, left deep impressions. The need to study scripture much more diligently, not just skim reading. The week had taught us not by our power, but thru the power of our Lord. The need to search ones self to root out those pesky little sins (ok, some may not be so little) that we like to hold on to, that we may even feel entitled to, somehow. The need to overcome our own physical weakness or limitations, look around and be about our Father's business. Too grasp every opprotunity to help find and gather the lost, because their end is too bitter to contemplate. When it came my time to shake Pastor Don's hand and say goodbye - I could not. So very much emotion was swirling around inside, no words would come out. He looked at me with such compassion it was like he said "I know, its ok". He simply said - Thankyou. For me it was more than enough. I wanted to say no, thank you, my tears would not let me, even now years later the tears are flowing. Why? I knew there was so very much more to do. As an old paratrooper I knew I was leaving the 'battlefield' in the middle of the battle, worse I was leaving behind Gods troops, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Come monday morning they would be right back at it. One of the deepest creeds a soldier has is not to leave a fellow soldier behind. His example and those of the people in that small congregation, combined with the teams coming in from around the country had me saying - now this is what we should be doing all the time. And by we I mean, me, myself & I. To have a broken heart for those around me, in the field the Lord has placed me in. Hurting inside for the condition that they are in. The lost. Not knowing they are lost. Not knowing they are walking around in total destruction. Thank you Lord for this lesson, for this opprotunity to serve.

Since then - well, the Lord has blessed me more than I deserve, and good ole satan has done his level best to impeed, obstruct, tear down and otherwise cause havoc. his favorite saying - see, all for naught. My reply, NOT SO. I am blessed by reading 'rebuildlakeshore', 'because of grace',
'disaster relief updates' from north american mission board, being a member of the arizona southern baptist disaster relief team, completing the study 'crown financial ministry' and putting it into practice for the last almost 2 years. Taking the time and resourses the Lord has given me to study and prepare. Starting this blog by following Jamie's example. It helps me to focus my thoughts and prayers. I will of course continue to catch up to the present. Remember, Pastor Don and his team got up this morning to host several teams from around the country, to be in service to the Lord by rebuilding Lakeshore, MS, to carry on the ministry the Lord has laid before them. Pray for them. Send help to them should you be able. Go and serve with them if at all possible. But the Lord has also placed you in a field to minister and serve, are you?

Next blog: Crown Ministry

Witnessing

One of the hardest things I find in my walk with the Lord is to easily witness to others. Especially folks I do not know personally. Let me assure you from personal experiance that a mission trip will beyond a shadow of a doubt give you a chance to witness. To Folks. To lots of different folks. Starting with our jobs, our church, our families just the simple act of obediance to the call to go on this mission trip opened all sorts of doors. Doors that stayed open upon our return and continue to stay open as we walk the row the Lord has laid out before us. The guys at work were curious as to why I would want to go to a place "destroyed". Some of the folks at church wanted to know why MS "isn't there enough work here for the Lord"? And the family, some went with us, some wanted to go and could not, and one using language I care not to repeat anywhere much less here, questioned my IQ. Or lack thereof as it were. To all the answer was Christ. I follow Him cause he saved me. Though my trek may be uncertain at times and in the flesh I may be weak (some call it irritating), I find strength and fortitude in Christ Jesus. When I am about His business I have no trouble at all talking to folks and sharing about "the mission""who called me to it""who made it possible""and what a blessing it is to be in His service". And I get to ask them to pray. For me. For the team. For those affected. For the responders. And the coup-de-gras? The icing on the cake. How can I pray for them this day; oh the change in composure and continence. When it sinks in that you are sincere. Then you can encourage them to go to church, to reopen the bible, to reopen the lines of communication with God. To seek the Lord, to call out to Him. Because if He can use me. If He can bring me peace thru the knowledge of being forgiven. If He can give me joy in the hope of eternal salvation. He can most decidedly do the same for you. And in fact died, for you, to be with you, to be able to call you one of His own. Yep, a mission will allow you more witness time than any other situation I can think of. In preperation I was able to witness to folks at Office Depot, not only in Tucson, but also at the call centers in Florida and Colorado. I was able to witness to the business tellers at the bank. I was able to witness to an old friend not heard from in 30 years. I was able to witness to the hotel call center operators during arraingements for lodging. I was able to witness to every waitress, gas station attendant and person standing next to me in the check out lines as we made our way across the country during all our stops. I was able because Christ made it possible. I was able because Christ decided to use this broken piece of pottery. Once on station in Lakeshore, the list continues. The hotel clerks as we left Slidell very early and got in late. The gas station attendants curious of the AZ plate on our car. The clerks at the Wal-marts. The staff at the propane company and the rental company. The visitors to the distribution center we were able to talk to. And a whole new group on the way home to Tucson because we detoured thru Missouri. Do you have trouble witnessing? Answer the Lord's call to go on a mission trip, and just talk to folks. The Lord will do the rest.
Next post: Saying goodbye.

Jans Gator

One of the mornings Jan & I had dropped the team off already and had been out running an errand. On the road that runs north from the school there was something on the side of the road. As we approached I slowed down as there was no other traffic. And it looked like someone had run over a gator. So Jan decides to get out and get a closer look. Not a wise choice says her husband, cause that gator may be friends with the possum. Now we had been a squabbling some during most of the trip and she had just about enough of her husbands "wisdom" as it were. So up close she gets and snaps a few photo's. Now I am alert and keeping a close eye on the gators eyes and nostrils and very alert for the slightest motion. In my mind I'm thinking at least we're not near a water way cause if it clamps on her on dry land I have a bit of a chance. In water of any depth there would be mostly no chance. So after the photo shoot back in the car she gets with a (I like to think) self satisfied "see thats a dead gator". OK. could be. Dang but I hate to eat my own words. That is until about an hour later when we were driving back by when I said, "Hey Honey, Where's your dead gator?" Now I did not get the response I was expecting and some of you husbands out there will understand. She looked a little ashen, as she just realized the danger she may have been in, and she got silent. Yep, felt like a heal, heal time it is for sure.
Now how to fix this. Brilliance strikes. Hey Honey, you know that in this part of the country most of the folks may be like your brother Mark. They see a dead gator along the road and they are thinking gator steaks or new boots or something. From her a relieved "Really? you think so?" Yea, remember the turtle story the girls told about Mark running over a turtle and them having turtle soup for supper? Well this is got to be the same thing. Sure. Mental note to self - do not scare the beeswax out of your wife should you want her to enjoy a missions experiance, otherwise you may be spending more alone time than you would actually care too. Included in my prayer time that day were words to the effect of "thank you Lord for keeping Jan safe, thank you Lord for keeping her by my side, and forgive me Lord for picking on her in the first place and for the fib to help cover it up".
Next post: Witnessing.

Crawfish

Now Monday morning Pastor Don stops by to see how things are a goin. And bout half way between the distribution center and the kitchen is a huge blue cambro cooler looking thing. Come to find out they had a crawfish bake/boil prior to our arrival and Pastor Don was a hoping we would cook up the rest of the left over crawfish. Ummm, crawfish is bait, right Stanley? Yep says Stanley, they sure cooked up a lot of bait. Jan? Don't look at me she says they don't have any of those in the dry rivers back in Tucson. Pam? Thats a lot of cooked bait. Brandy? They look like little lobsters, maybe they taste the same too. We could try crawfish alfredo. Yeah, that sounds good --- sort of. Now the Lord knows what he's doing cause bout that time JT from the team from Alabama is a lookin around for some drinks and mentions he has his laptop with him and before you can say hop-skip-jump, right in front of us is a receipe for crawfish-eh to fey! (spelling ain't even close) basically a rice dish. Brandy says "I can do that" so for the next 6 hours the 5 of us sit and peel, shuck, and otherwise turn those crawfish into little bites of meat. See a peeled crawfish would fit in a thimble with room for others. Thats about 30 man hours. What we didn't know at the time, and would have gladly spent the money for was in LA peeled crawfish come in little celo bags all ready for cooking. go figure. Now while we were in the peeling process one of the young lads from Alabama stops by and watches for a minute and then promptly tells us we is a throw'n way the best part. Really? So enlighten us young brother. So he reaches in the bowl, pulls out a crawdaddy, snaps it in half and sucks out both ends. Yikes! hey where did the girls go, and Stanley you ain't a lookin so good, now son you can't be serious. So he reaches in and does it again! Fine now I got to go round up all my helpers. HA. I like lots of different foods, pickled pigs feet from my grandma Staniec, Head cheese from the mennonites up around Aberdeen, MS, shoot - even oysters on the half shell when I was stationed in Fort Polk, LA. But I was not man enough to try what that lad was doing. nope. no way no how. And he stood there for a bit grinnin, popping crawdaddies like most of us normal folk eat pop corn.
Now it took some doing and a few promises but I finally gathered up the troops and we started cooking dinner, with said crawfish as the main course. Brandy did a right fine job cause there were no left overs and lots of compliments. The most memorable was another young lad of about 12 from Alabama stopped by to tell Brandy, "My momma's a good cook and been cookin eh to fey all my life, but yours is better". That will bring tears to a womans eyes, and make a daddy proud.

Once we got the routine down and figured out where most everything was I like to think that the rest of the week went well. We were able to make sure no one went away hungry or thirsty. Tried to make a good variety of good foods. Crawfish included. No one got sick, praise God. Never opened so many bottles of water, ever. The girls handled most of the cooking chores, I spent a lot of time boiling, bleaching and cleaning. Stanley got to go help build some sheds ( or was it just the one?), James even let me borrow a chain saw and I got to work that for awhile. Stanley & I got to work together cutting down a big ole branch that was in the way of the new church office building. Lots of good hard work for the Lord, Lots of fun doing it, Lots of rewards, some that continue to this day. Thank you Lord.

Next post: Jans gator.

Week of work

Easter Sunday the church was full. Now the church was and at this point still is in a quonset hut. Pastor Don's message was moving. I remember thinking "it is good to be in my fathers house listening to my brother". In a place I had been trying to get to since August 29th. Funny how our Lords timing is not our own. Good thing He is in charge of all things and allows them to happen in his way. Though we expected it the next week would be very busy. It was great to finally put faces to the names, and touch the ones we had come to love from a long ways away.
Now the problem with writing this 2 years later is the loss of fine detail, like names. Pastor Don passed us over to a young lady who was in charge of the warehouse at the school, who as I remember was down from Virginia with her daughter and had decided to stay. Our question was where can we help you the most. Her answer: can you cook? We have teams coming in this week and no one to cook. And after last week we really need someone who knows how to cook.
Funny how the Lord will use you. Talents that you may take for granted, ones you may not think much of for the use in His work. My response: funny you should ask. Momma being 2nd generation Polish made durn sure her boys could cook, and I just happened to bring along 2 Missouri farm girls from who's tables I've never pushed away hungry, and saving the best for last there's Brandy. Who took what her mom & I taught her and took it up several notches. So we walk over to the kitchen, get a brief walk thru, get reminded the water is still not usable and will see you in the morning for breakfast. OK. Note to self. When in the Lords service be prepared to hit the ground running. Good thing I was a Boy Scout and a Paratrooper. Notice how most everything is canned? Its the weather here, the exact oppisite of Tucson. Lets try to get as much fresh into them as we can. And lets have some fun doing it! Off to Wally world. Now when you picture Wal-Mart in your mind you may think of fully stocked, shelved, most everything you need. Well Wavelands had just re-opened. Most everything was on pallets on the floor and of course it was less than fully stocked. So the week went as it started up at 4 am, drive in from Slidell, get the coffee started, work all day putting out some chow for some very hungry hard working brothers and sisters, get our daily reward of smiling faces, happy sounds coming from folks enjoying a good meal, wash up the dishes, shut down the kitchen. Drag our tired selves back to Slidell, hot shower, bed. Man that week flew by so fast. Just wish we could have stayed longer. Nothing fills you like a job well done. One done in love. One done for the Lord. Next post: Crawfish? Now Pastor Don the song says "Where I come from its corn bread and chicken" Ain't nobody ever sang bout no crawdaddies that I ever heard of. HA, be prepared for what the Lord lays before you!!! In fact it may be better if you can get rid of any and all preconcieved ideas from the get-go. Might make the road less bumpy. Might.

First Fruits

It is a crying shame that at this point I have a mental block on Pastor Don's wife's name. But to continue on, we called her on the way into Slidell. We had a hotel room reserved and knew we would have some daylight left on Saturday. She told us everyone would be gone from the church area that afternoon/evening but what would be really nice if we could get some flowers to decorate the altar with for Easter Sunday. We drove over to the church to take a look see. It had started about half way across LA and intensified the closer we got to the church. The Oh God's and the Oh My Lord's. Cause you see, even though we had seen images on the news and thought we knew. Until you drive mile after mile with this level of destruction. Until you realize that this is 8 months later, well, we didn't know. And even after being there for a week we were going home to normal. These folks, over a million of our fellow countrymen, tens of thousands of our fellow brother and sisters in Christ had been living it for almost a year and as I write this have been living it for almost 3 years. We really don't know. So - back to the church, good thing the girls were with us cause given the task of flowers Stanley & I got no clue, but the girls! Dang had to limit them, sorry to had to do it too. But only so much in the budget and its our first day.

Back to Slidell to the Wally world (Wal-Mart) for you pureists. They was mostly out of everything what with not being fully restocked from the storm anyways. But the Lord provided some right pretty Easter Lillies for the altar and the girls got some oblong pots and flowers for the entrance to the church. Possibly the best thing about being on a mission trip is the fact that it free's you to witness to almost everyone you come in contact with. Especially when folks start the conversation with "ya'll ain't from round here, are ya?" Course you don't beat them with Jesus. Just that the Lord laid it upon our hearts to come lend a hand, that He provided a way, and that we have been and will continue to pray for you. Oh and could you lift us up in prayer also? It changes there whole expression. From a caucious almost closed expression to one of friendliness, more open, thankful. That thankfullness is what gets you the most. It makes you proud. Of them. Heck you know what your doing is less than spit in a rain storm but it makes you proud of yourself too. Not that your all that and a bag of chips, but that you obeyed the calling from the Lord and that thankfulness is part of the reward for doing so.



Now the word of caution. When ever you are working for our Lord you will be under some form of attack. It will come at you from the strangest directions sometimes but you will be attacked.

When we get back to the church with the flowers we get attacked. By knats. Biting knats. Thousands of em. So thick you could only stand it for a minute or so. The urge to run was very compelling. They was in our eyes, nose, ears, mouth if you tried to talk and oh yeah THEY BITE. We killed a bunch, ate more than we would like to think about and that only made room for the ones waiting in line to get at us. Now being mostly country folks ourselves we love dogs. And one of the scrawnyist I ever laid eyes on came across the street while we were at the church and Brandy spots him first. Oh dad, she says we need to feed him and get him some water. I take one look and had to tell him to scat. Had to tell Brandy to stay away from him. See, you could actually see the knats and fleas swarming on and around him. And where I had been feeling sorry for myself with all these bites, at least I could get away from it in the car. He could not. Drew to mind everything around me. I could go home in the car. This community could not. I cried. Typing this 2 years later the emotions still bring tears. The girls did a good job. The decorations turned out right pretty. Prayerfully it brought a little joy to the people who attended or stopped by.



Now in the links box, you will see rebuild lakeshore and because of grace. Since returning from our trip I check out Pastor Don's web site almost everyday and his locust and wild honey weekly.

Along with those blessings, a suprising one. One that influenced this blog spot. A young lady from way up north whom I never met cause she went to Lakeshore after our trip. Her because of grace, site is also a daily blessing. Shoot Jan & I even got to read some books from the 1500's because of it. We also get to pray for folks daily that we never even knew existed. Check them out. Pray for them. And when He calls your name say here I am Lord, send me. The rewards by far exceed what you may expect.

The Catalyst

3 years ago come august 29th, a fierce lady by the name of Katrina came ashore. Now this was my birthday and the graffic pictures just plum tore my heart out. Jan, my wife and I first tried the American Red Cross and found that you must be trained prior to going. The Lord put a powerful calling upon us and about that time we were preparing the convention center for incoming evacuee's from new orleans. Helping where we could and waiting for the training dates I kept trying to find an avenue for this calling from the Lord. After much prayer I stumbled upon the Arizona Southern Baptist Disaster Relief tab on the Arizona Soutern Baptist Convention web site. Alas - more training, and they had already deployed to the area, so training would have to wait until they returned from the active disaster. Months passed. Training occured with the ARC and the DRT. Our searching continued including looking in the yellow pages for Baptist Churches in Mississippi. All the press was covering was New Orleans but having spent a goodly portion of my youth in Mississippi that was where the calling was for.
I stumbled again upon Lakeshore Baptist Church in the yellow pages and they had a web site listed. Hot dang, thank you Lord! Welcome to Lakeshore Baptist Church and Pastor Don Elbourne's web site. Wow, what a mess, you called me Lord, I responded as best as I could figure how, I still wanted to go, badly, so Lord its in your hands and you need to make it possible.
I was able to put together a 5 person team. Jan & I, our eldest, Brandy and Jans brother, Stanley and his wife Pam. So 3 from Tucson, and 2 from Missouri head towards Lakeshore. Now I want to take the time here to thank several folks, cause I skipped some important points. Now the 1st christmas in Lakeshore we were blessed to lend some small assistance to Pam Lackey from Georgia, and had started sending small care packages via Office Depot to the church in Lakeshore. The training from the ARC and DRT were very helpful. But as the trip got closer the more excited we were. Thank the Lord for cell phone technology cause coordinating the travel from 2 different directions and keeping Pastor Don's wife informed of our progress was almost easy on the road. After a good steak dinner in San Antonio with an old lost friend, Sally and her daughter Trini and a good nights sleep the 5 of us met up in Slidell, LA on Saturday the day before Easter.

Getting started

We start the trip the Lord layed upon my heart almost 3 years ago. Not by my strength or ability, but as the Lord leads, for his Kingdom, and for his glory alone. May our Lord bless the reader of this and all future posts in whatever blessing He sees that they stand in the need of. May the Holy Spirit encourage, uplift, and stimulate the reader to pray more, and be more active in the work Jesus has for you for his glory and honor. May all praise and worship go to God our Father in heaven, to whom it truly belongs.