Just a quick note before we get busy. If you remember shaggys restaurant in pass xtian. Gone. Extènsive floodng. Môre later. We are waiting for all cleár to go home. I am praying this day "we give thanks for all the blessings of this life" I cannot thank tou enough for your love. Jane
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Gustav 9
Troubling. Rumors that shelters near biloxi are closing and putting nola folks out. (not ARC). On òther side we just helped a nola family find lodging in Jackson. Tensions are rising as the time hoes by. We have much flooding. Popps ferry is flooded as is my Street. We will spend another night in the shelter. AC is not working. i need to cleán the bathrooms Pray for cool heads and warm hearts
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Gustav 8
Breakfast time. Gustav is on shore and no bad reports so far. I visited with a lovely couple from nola. He had a feeding tube and needed some privacy. He was terribly uncomfortable but his face showed a joy for life. The lesson for me. - a smile makes everthing better even in a shelter. Time to make the rounds. BTW tornado by and wind strong. Still under curfew. Not out of Woods yet. Roof groaning. Awespme wonder át the beauty of creation
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Gustav 7
Good Morning. The tenor of the place is decidedly better. Hope is that NOLA may be spared. Hooray. Talk is now about going home. Many tornados. Not over yet.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Gustav 6
Good news as it goes to the West. We have had squalls but not too bad. I registèred 69 in about 2 hours with òthers doing the same. We have severál families from nola. Two of my parishiòners are here and another working as a volunteer. That makes it môre like family for me. The video meet was good. Thanks helen. I am almost toò tired to think tonight. My práyer is that travel has been safe and folks have been welcomed. One family from NO got a call from her sister in Boston. I found out that sox lost. Oh well. i hear the rain beginning again. It will be a long night. God bless you all. We are resting in Gods love and your práyers. Jane
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Gustav #5
I am finally ready to go. I am spending the next 36 to 72 hours volunteering at a local Red Cross shelter.
The storm continues to veer to the west. Winds are not as strong as they were predicted at this point. The further west it goes the better for us and for NOLA at this point. But they are still predicting 130+ and a 20 ft surge. The good news is that people have responded all over and have evacuated. This is the second evacuation for my son, John and the first for #2 son, Will. Having spent the last two days with John who came to help me get ready, the emotional impact of having to leave home yet again is off the stress charts for people in NOLA. The news is full of predictions for flood depth and number of homes likely to be flooded. Pumping stations are manned though and NOLA seems to have responded well. One glitch (and this could be one of those hurricane rumors) is that only a portion of the buses that FEMA had contracted to move people out actually showed up. They were several hundred buses short. FEMA called for help and LA responded by sending buses from surrounding communities. They say that they will get all people who want to get out. There are some who have not left. All are reluctant to leave, but most are resigned to the necessity of the evacuation. The resignation is apparent in the faces.
Talk at the coffee pot after church and in the lines at the gas station are vivid retellings of Katrina, George, Elena, and Ivan. From a pastoral perspective this seems good to me. It connotes community, shared experience, a remembering that seems to make the current chaos more "ordinary". Hurricanes are a part of life on the coast. There is not doubt about that. Perhaps it is the media coverage that makes these events so frightening. Today the Gospel lesson was "pick up our cross and follow" This is one mean cross. But Rev Harold Roberts (Redeemer rector) who lost everything he had in Katrina was more focused on the power of the relationships we have built with those who have come here to help since Katrina. He talked about the lack of knowledge about our plight in 2005 and how alone the coast was as Katrina approached. But this time we have gotten phone calls from all over the world. We know we are not alone. We know that each voice, each gift card, each prayer, each person who comes - is a beautiful manifestation of God's Love. It was powerful that our prayers of the people today were focused on a remembrance of Katrina. We added a few prayers of our own for those who are yet again in great turmoil.
The remainder of my blogs will be shorter and from my Blackberry. (Please excuse the typos!) I will be in a shelter in Biloxi so I will have little access to the larger picture. I will report on my work there and how the people of Biloxi are dealing with yet one more disaster. The clouds are beginning to build outside. It is hot and humid - no surprise! Thank you all for taking the time to read my missives. May God bless and keep you and us and most especially the people of New Orleans.
The storm continues to veer to the west. Winds are not as strong as they were predicted at this point. The further west it goes the better for us and for NOLA at this point. But they are still predicting 130+ and a 20 ft surge. The good news is that people have responded all over and have evacuated. This is the second evacuation for my son, John and the first for #2 son, Will. Having spent the last two days with John who came to help me get ready, the emotional impact of having to leave home yet again is off the stress charts for people in NOLA. The news is full of predictions for flood depth and number of homes likely to be flooded. Pumping stations are manned though and NOLA seems to have responded well. One glitch (and this could be one of those hurricane rumors) is that only a portion of the buses that FEMA had contracted to move people out actually showed up. They were several hundred buses short. FEMA called for help and LA responded by sending buses from surrounding communities. They say that they will get all people who want to get out. There are some who have not left. All are reluctant to leave, but most are resigned to the necessity of the evacuation. The resignation is apparent in the faces.
Talk at the coffee pot after church and in the lines at the gas station are vivid retellings of Katrina, George, Elena, and Ivan. From a pastoral perspective this seems good to me. It connotes community, shared experience, a remembering that seems to make the current chaos more "ordinary". Hurricanes are a part of life on the coast. There is not doubt about that. Perhaps it is the media coverage that makes these events so frightening. Today the Gospel lesson was "pick up our cross and follow" This is one mean cross. But Rev Harold Roberts (Redeemer rector) who lost everything he had in Katrina was more focused on the power of the relationships we have built with those who have come here to help since Katrina. He talked about the lack of knowledge about our plight in 2005 and how alone the coast was as Katrina approached. But this time we have gotten phone calls from all over the world. We know we are not alone. We know that each voice, each gift card, each prayer, each person who comes - is a beautiful manifestation of God's Love. It was powerful that our prayers of the people today were focused on a remembrance of Katrina. We added a few prayers of our own for those who are yet again in great turmoil.
The remainder of my blogs will be shorter and from my Blackberry. (Please excuse the typos!) I will be in a shelter in Biloxi so I will have little access to the larger picture. I will report on my work there and how the people of Biloxi are dealing with yet one more disaster. The clouds are beginning to build outside. It is hot and humid - no surprise! Thank you all for taking the time to read my missives. May God bless and keep you and us and most especially the people of New Orleans.
Gustav #4
Just back with a car full of vestments and books. As I rode along Hwy 90 the stream of cars from NOLA was continous. The houses all boarded up. People are doing OK. We had about 55 today for church. There is a sense of relief that we will get minimal hurricane frce winds and only a 15 ft surge - 1/2 of Katrina. But there is great sadness for New Orleans. I cried all the way home. One of the parihsioners had come along I 10 and she said that all she could see for mile after mile were LA plates. I am reminded of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. And now I am crying again. I have got to stop that as I need to go put baptismal records in plastic bags and feed the cats...
One really spirit lifting thing has been the number of calls we have gotten from folks who do not keep me on the phone very long, but who say we are praying for you. One call from Maryland just a few minutes ago was "We are putting together a team. We will be there" Oh my gosh what a gift.
One really spirit lifting thing has been the number of calls we have gotten from folks who do not keep me on the phone very long, but who say we are praying for you. One call from Maryland just a few minutes ago was "We are putting together a team. We will be there" Oh my gosh what a gift.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)