Yesterday's News

It occurred to me the other evening while listening to David Tader share his story of the work being done in Louisiana that few outside that room had given a single thought that day to the suffering still going on there. The most common question to any mention of Katrina is - "Why are we still talking about that. Isn't that yesterday's news...". But then that's the society we live in today. We have all the compassion in the world while it's still fresh in our minds but as new disasters happen to take their place they become "yesterday's news". 

A bit of "yesterday's news" landed on my doorstep Friday as I was catching up on Mary Held's ministry via her blog. Her story of James is but a small picture into the daily struggles that Trinity and the Touchglobal staff see daily. An excerpt from her blog:

Emergency response can be built around individual and family crises as well as to a community disaster. In the case of James, his crisis started in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was living on a boat in Slidell, LA, which was completely washed away in Katrina. He lived on the boat with his twin brother, who had evacuated to Tennessee. James decided to stay in Slidell during Katrina. He ended up surviving although losing all of his personal belongings and the shelter of his brother’s boat. 

James' emergency state lasted for 2½ years post Katrina - I can only imagine how exhausted he must be. His story only snowballed after the storm. He received emergency assistance from FEMA and he was able to live off that temporarily. However, James did not have any help long-term – to connect with resources, another place to live, and get his basic needs met. After Katrina, he found out that his brother, whom he was close to, died while in Tennessee. At that point, James became depressed and less motivated. 

This begs the question then...would God have sent Katrina just to save this one soul? Would he have sent all those workers to NO just to minister to this one man's needs? Are there others just like him? Would our God care this much for just one person? Didn't our God care so much for YOU that not only did he send his one and only son, but allowed Him to be crucified just for YOU?

And this is just one man in one city far away. There are many more just like James going through their own struggles and needing the love of Christ, even here at home. Please help me to pray that we would be receptive to those around us and that God would give us the courage to reach out and show God's love through our words and deeds.

1 John 3:17-18
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

You can see the rest of Mary's blog by clicking on Healing after Katrina in my favorite blogs.