"in the mud"

There is a must-read article in today's Washington Post. I hope you'll read the entire piece; it is well worth it. In the meantime, here a few things that caught my eye ... and my heart.

... charity efforts have constituted more than 80 percent of the home rebuilding completed so far, local and charity officials said.

Fewer than one in five families here {Mississippi} are back in their homes, but nearly all of them have relied to some extent on charity groups.

"Without the volunteers and the donations, we'd still be in the mud." ...

The fact that now, 17 months after Hurricane Katrina, only a small fraction of the home rebuilding has been completed and that most of it has been done by charity groups is viewed here as both wonderful and disappointing -- wonderful that so many strangers have arrived to help, but disappointing that the federal aid and insurance payouts have proved, for now, so unavailable.

The charitable groups and residents also say they sometimes worry that as the rest of the country forgets about their plight, the flow of volunteers that they have relied upon could shrink.

Several expressed outrage that there was no mention of the hurricane recovery in President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday.

"We still look like a bomb hit us, and then the president in his national address doesn't even mention us? That really hurt." ...

Along the woodsy roadsides, hand-painted plywood signs offer community encouragement -- "Keep Hope Alive" and "Katrina Was Big, God Was Bigger."


For what you have already done ... thank you.

For the countless ways you have served, given, worked, prayed, and cared for these neighbors-not-next-door ... thank you.

There is still SO. VERY. MUCH. to be done. Be part of God's big work in the world ... be part of the healing, the recovery, the hope of the Gulf Coast.

Partners in Comfort ... seven trips in '07, eight in '08. Six are on the calendar. It's never too early, never too late, to be one of the messengers who not only speak the love of Christ, but live it.

February 18 - 24, 2007: Covington, Louisiana

March 4 – 10, 2007: Covington, Louisiana
*Sponsored by Selah! Ministries for Women at Geist Christian Church, this is the first (annual?!) women’s mission trip.

May 13 - 19, 2007: Lake Charles, Louisiana
*Hit hard by Hurricane Rita, Lake Charles has been quite overlooked in other recovery efforts.

July 22 - 28, 2007: Slidell, Louisiana
*This trip is specifically for CYF (high school) youth and adult sponsors.

September 16 - 22, 2007: McComb, Mississippi

November 11 - 17, 2007: Algiers/New Orleans, Louisiana

in other news

THIS makes my heart so happy.

To me, punitive damages are secondary (I mean, easy for me to say, it's NOT me.)

But seriously ... they paid their premiums ... you pay the claim. That's. How. It. Works.

Or should.

And now can.

Rock on, Judge Senter.