PDA VI - Day 1

A few things to look for this week... Shorter posts after today, PDA Facts that come my way and Dialogue Questions for any and everyone to answer. There aren't really right/wrong answers here, so I hope anyone reading jumps in!

Day 1...

David Lamotte often talks about how we change the world just by being here, just by our breathing in and our exhaling out. How our actions change the world is, in many ways, up to us.

39 months ago, after watching CNN and seeing people dying on rooftops in New Orleans, I stood in the office hallway at Forest Lake Presbyterian Church and told our interim head pastor, "we need to go there."

I was 23. I had less than two weeks on the job. And he said, "let's do it." I'll never forget that moment. It was God at work in a way that defeats stereotypes (of the interim pastor and newbie youth director) and changes the world by sharing God's love and grace in new ways.

Reflecting three years later, I'm overcome. Who am I to be here? So many hands have scraped, hammered, painted, and caulked over these trips. I've heard unbelievable stories and seen sights I'll never forget.... George and Barbara describing how they were climbing onto their roof just as the surge subsided, the sight of cars resting on houses and houses on cars in the 9th Ward, Dallas's tale of hanging from a tree for hours... it goes on and on.

And here I am in Gulfport, Mississippi after our first day of work of my sixth trip to the Gulf Coast, once again amazed at how God works through disaster to bring steadfastness, brokenness to bring wholeness, and chaos to bring hope.

Today we began the rebuilding of the Pearlington, MS PDA camp where several of us have spent 4 weeks of our lives. The camp was heavily damaged by hurricanes Gustav and Ike (the reason we're staying in Gulfport).

With that I have to say it's an indescribably profound experience to rebuild a place that has changed your life and that has changed the lives of countless others. To God be the glory...

PDA Fact 1: Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the morning of August 29, 2005, 45,000 volunteers have worked, laughed, cried, slept, communed, and grown in Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) Volunteer Villages.

PDA Fact 2: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) could have rebuilt 315 homes destroyed by Katrina/Rita from scratch had they used their funding to rebuild houses as a solo relief organization. By working with Lutheran Disaster Relief, the Red Cross, FEMA, TRAC (Houma, LA), and countless other local and national organizations PDA has contributed to the rebuilding of 3,500 homes.

Dialogue ?: Do these stats say something about how we should intend to "be the church" in the days, months, and years to come?

My Answer: I believe this is just one example that says we must be willing to join hands with the church, synagogue, mosque, and civic organization across the street and around the world to share the infinitely expansive love of God in an intentionally expansive and inclusive way. By joining hands we have more hands with which to reach out.