6.18.07 ~ New Orleans

What an eye-opening, heart-revealing week I've experienced. I find it difficult to adequately and accurately express all that I saw...smelled...heard...tasted...felt. So much of this week was new and unexpected.

I admit that I left for New Orleans with quite a bit of naivety. Considering the fact that it's been almost 2 years since Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding hit, I assumed that we would no longer see a whole lot of chaos. I assumed we'd see much of the destruction replaced with construction.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

On Monday morning, we went on a prayer walk through the lower 9th Ward...an area hardest hit by the flooding. As I somberly walked through this deserted community where neighbors once gathered and networked and shared life, I viewed the tall, overgrown grass and weeds in multiple fields. I didn't immediately realize that these empty fields were where houses once stood. I saw house upon house with the eerie spray-painted markings on the outside. These are reminders of those workers who came through searching for survivors and victims in the hurricane aftermath. Our team viewed a house that had settled on top of a car. As we were taking in this rare sight, someone driving by explained to us that the house had originally sat on the lot across the street. The images we viewed were so foreign, it often felt as if we were in a third-world country. In fact, my husband and I frequently commented that so many things reminded us of our visit to Papua New Guinea.
During our prayer walk, it began downpouring. Our team immediately sought shelter in the carport of an abandoned house. I found it ironic that the very house that 2 years ago was an unfit harbor for its occupants was now the place God provided for us to seek shelter from the rain. As our team gathered beneath the carport, we continued to pray as a group for the people of New Orleans. This was one of the highlights of our trip for me. Walking through the streets and viewing the destruction was almost a sensational experience. Cameras (including mine) were clicking repeatedly as we surveyed the damage. And yet, as the rain fell hard and heavy, it was like God was calling us to simply put our cameras away. I sensed that He was calling us to corporately pray and exalt His name. What a sweet time of communion we shared that morning.

I have many more thoughts and highlights from the week which I'll share in later posts. However, in closing I just wanted to share how God brought some of the lessons and truths we learned over the past week full circle as we attended our church service yesterday morning. We arrived home late on Saturday night, and our whole team was a bit groggy (probably an understatement) in our worship service yesterday morning. But my heart was nodding in agreement and joy as we sang the song, "Breathe." During one of our training sessions in New Orleans last weekend, the speaker reminded us that disasters such as Hurricane Katrina show us our desperate need for Jesus. Everything else in the lives of these dear people has been stripped away. Oh, that each one of us would understand that God is faithful and sufficient for our heart's every need and longing. May our hearts cry out in desperation for Jesus, the one who is able to lift our heads and make all things new.