So easy to preach Advent this year. We are all forced to be living testimonies to waiting and watching….on many days it’s all we do.
I was very proud of our local gov. folks giving it to Congress in hearings this week. Much of the recovery work has slowed or has not even started because we cannot get funding. The GREAT FEAR of being forgotten looms over us, and the reaction of congress-people from other areas is disheartening. I wish they would all come for a visit, see it for yourselves, work in the relief center, talk to the folks still coming for the basics of life. Spend the night in a FEMA travel trailer with 6 family members, if they dare, or better yet on a tent on a slab because you STILL WAIT for the trailer long promised, which they can’t deliver, by the way, because the debris they promised to move off your lot 4 weeks ago still sits.
The job is TOO massive folks. It will take more time and more resources and more people and more money than ANYTHING WE’VE EVER HAD TO DO BEFORE. You can’t judge by past storms, you can’t judge by the 4 that hit Florida last year, one Katrina has done more than all those combined and then some.
So we wait….and watch…..and wonder if anything we are doing is the right thing….
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We have been to Camp Coast Care, worked in the relief center, worked on a crew cleaning up peoples’ homes, prayed with you there, and have witnessed the amazing things happening there. Believe us, you ARE doing the right thing. We know it is disheartening but you can’t give up. We have not forgotten. God will not forsake you. We listened and were touched by your sermons, particularly the one of November 27. We sang this song at church on Sunday, and we couldn’t help but think of all of you when we sang it:
On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake, and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of kings!
Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
Make straight the way for God within;
Prepare we in our hearts a home
Where such a mighty Guest may come.
For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
Our Refuge, and our great Reward.
Without Thy grace we waste away,
Like flowers that wither and decay.
To heal the sick stretch out Thine hand,
And bid the fallen sinner stand;
Shine forth, and let Thy light restore
Earth’s own true loveliness once more.
Stretch for Thine hand, to heal our sore,
And make us rise to fall no more;
Once more upon thy people shine,
And fill the world with love divine.
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee
Whose advent sets Thy people free,
Whom, with the Father, we adore,
And Holy Ghost, forevermore.
Please know that there are many folks who are remembering the people of the Gulf Coast in their prayers, with donations of various kinds to Camp Coast Care and other worthy organizations, and with their hands. At this moment, our daughter’s alma mater, Franklin College (Indiana), is packing supplies to be delivered to the Camp by this weekend. Fondly known as the “Organizing Queen”, she will be there again this weekend. She spent seven weeks with you at Camp Coast Care this fall and is anxious to see all of you again. May God continue to bless you in your work!