I slept the best I had in over a week last night so maybe the end of this cold looms on the horizon. I finished the rest of Trevor Hudson's book this morning. It really is a good read - a must for anyone who considers themselves a Christian. I'll need to read it again soon and get a highlighter. :) I drove over to Pass Christian to the Civic Center where they had a Red Cross relief center set up. They were housing some people in the center and had a clothing and food tent. We learned they were going to shut down the food tent Monday unless they got more food in. So many organizations are shutting down their operations while there is still a need to meet. We're trying to find ways to get more food into this center soon. We were there to feed the people a good hot meal; the UMM from First UMC in Columbus, MS, came down again and cooked up another storm.
They had 47 youth from their church to help out as well and they had a carnival for the kids. I got to help a 5 year old put together a "Bionicle" type toy he "won". Tony Proctor and I also took off to go to the UMCOR office to setup the desktop PC he brought down to replace my laptop we had been using. It will be easier for the volunteers to have a bigger screen to use for sure. Back in Pass Christian, I noticed the "new" post office was next door to the center. There are a few of these along the coast and I finally got a picture of one as shown below. It's a good thing they don't get much bad weather down here this time of year! There still hasn't been any rain here since Katrina except when Rita's outer bands hit.
When we were done, we drove over to Waveland to deliver the extra food that was cooked, but we stopped by the beach first so the youth could get a glimpse of the devastation to get a better appreciation for what happened to the people they were serving. It's not something you can really describe. We had communion on the beach and were invited to spend some time reflecting in prayer for what we experienced today. Here's a hand-held one second exposure.
Then we stopped by the New Waveland Cafe and dropped off the goodies before the Columbus group headed off for the 6 hour trip home. I stayed at the Cafe to worship with the volunteers who all sleep in a large tent. It was refreshing to have a corporate service like that where I could sing out loud again to songs that move me. I've generally been busy or preoccupied with what I've been doing here to worship God so it was a welcome break. I wished it was longer. I also met one of the main people behind the kitchen there, David McCrary. He and his wife shut down their restaurant back home and brought a lot of the equipment down here to cook for the people. Talk about living out your faith. I'd like to try working over there a while to get among the people more, especially after reading Trevor's book. It will have to wait until after I bring warmer clothes down on my next tour of duty though.
They had 47 youth from their church to help out as well and they had a carnival for the kids. I got to help a 5 year old put together a "Bionicle" type toy he "won". Tony Proctor and I also took off to go to the UMCOR office to setup the desktop PC he brought down to replace my laptop we had been using. It will be easier for the volunteers to have a bigger screen to use for sure. Back in Pass Christian, I noticed the "new" post office was next door to the center. There are a few of these along the coast and I finally got a picture of one as shown below. It's a good thing they don't get much bad weather down here this time of year! There still hasn't been any rain here since Katrina except when Rita's outer bands hit.
When we were done, we drove over to Waveland to deliver the extra food that was cooked, but we stopped by the beach first so the youth could get a glimpse of the devastation to get a better appreciation for what happened to the people they were serving. It's not something you can really describe. We had communion on the beach and were invited to spend some time reflecting in prayer for what we experienced today. Here's a hand-held one second exposure.
Then we stopped by the New Waveland Cafe and dropped off the goodies before the Columbus group headed off for the 6 hour trip home. I stayed at the Cafe to worship with the volunteers who all sleep in a large tent. It was refreshing to have a corporate service like that where I could sing out loud again to songs that move me. I've generally been busy or preoccupied with what I've been doing here to worship God so it was a welcome break. I wished it was longer. I also met one of the main people behind the kitchen there, David McCrary. He and his wife shut down their restaurant back home and brought a lot of the equipment down here to cook for the people. Talk about living out your faith. I'd like to try working over there a while to get among the people more, especially after reading Trevor's book. It will have to wait until after I bring warmer clothes down on my next tour of duty though.
posted by Michael Ray at 10:54 PM
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