Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Gulfport Bound...

In a little less than 2 weeks, myself & 11 others will be headed to Gulfport, MS, to do relief work in the Hurricane Katrina battered gulf coast area. (This is an actual photo of Hurricane Katrina). I've been doing a lot of praying for our team - safety, team unity, smooth travel. Then I heard a report on this morning's news. Forecasters are predicting a "busier than normal" hurricane season for 2007. The National Weather Service forecasters said they expect 13 to 17 tropical storms, with seven to 10 of them becoming hurricanes. I also read the following, "with a death toll of more than 1,500, Katrina was the third deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. It was also the costliest ever, with $80 billion in damages." Is that not an incredible statistic? It has been 2 years since Hurricane Katrina, and there is still much work to be done. My prayers have now done a shift off of myself & our team and towards the people who live along the gulf coast. I was part of a team last year that went down to Gulfport & the stories people had to share were unreal. I'm sure that when they hear predictions like the one above, they are full of fear. Many have outright left the area knowing that they could not face this type of catastrophe a second time. (This is a picture of what was left of a church along the coast in Gulfport, MS. ) So, as our team prepares to go, I ask for your prayers. Not just for us, although that would be greatly appreciated, but more so for the people who call this area home. May they feel comforted by those who come to be servants in the name of Christ, knowing that they are not alone. May they, as well as us, remember what His Word says in 2 Timothy 1:7 (King James is my favorite version of this scripture), "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Thank you all for your prayers...and thank you Lord for calling each one of us to do Your work for Your people. Proverbs 3:27 tells us, "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act."


7 comments:

Deidra said...

Hey friend I am definatly praying for you and the team. I know that you will be a blessing to the people there and in return you will be blessed as well.
Love Ya

Griffen said...

Praying now!

Matt Carson said...

it's coming up isn't it? i'm getting excited and yes, praying a lot more about it too!

i'm glad you wrote about what the hurricane forecast was for this year... i read it too, and the first thought i had in my mind was, 'they said that exact same thing last year and it was a calm year. the media just loves to build up stories like this to get attention. and i want to be a weatherman, because you can be totally wrong and you won't lose your job.'

HOWEVER, i didn't think about how the people that live there would react to this story. i don't think i could live down there, not knowing if, but when the next hurricane was going to hit. wow persepective is a powerful thing and it's making me even more excited to go down there and bless those people. i'm sure it's a similar thing with africa... you see all the images but you just don't understand until you are there. i'm thinking a trip to tanzania might be in order...

meredith said...

Ok, so the marathon web site is buffalmarathon.com And everything is updated. The course and everything. Race starts at 7AM...yikes! Hope to see you there!

meredith said...

So maybe I spelled Buffalo wrong. I meant buffalomarathon.com. Love ya!

Unknown said...

hope your trip is AMAZZZAZING

meredith said...

I've been praying for you and your team this week. I hope everything is going wonderful. Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!