"I want to be a living, Sanctuary for You."

Most people have a memory that when reflected on you remember all the details. The smells, the sounds, the feelings stirred from the particular memory. Some times these memories produce a happy/warm feeling inside which carries you through the day all smiles. But, sometimes those feelings are lonely, scary, and of disbelief. Ones where a sense of helplessness and finality reside. Yesterday I went into the flooded section of New Orleans.

My roommate, Drew Sutton, has been charged with taking video and creating a few short films on the damages in New Orleans and the affect on the Methodist Churchs. Having seen most of Drew's previous movies, I am sure this one will also be amazing. He asked Elizabeth and I if we would go to New Orleans while he filmed some of the damages. He didn't want to go by himself and I really wanted to see the city. So we left around noon on Saturday.

As we were driving through Metarie I was thinking to myself, "This isn't so bad, there are people everywhere, everything has electricity, I've seen this before." Then we cross a bridge to the area where the levee broke. It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz in reverse. Remember back to how impressed you were when Dorothy left the house to the Colorful world of OZ. First movie in color and everything was new and exciting and fun. This was like walking from a world of color and cheer to a world of greys, browns, and blacks. No cheer, no smiles, nothing green around. Just in the span of a thirty yard bridge made the difference from utter destruction and no problems. At that point I knew I had seen nothing like this before.

To write about everything I saw would take too long, and I am sure you will have your opportunity to buy a I survived Katrina book from you local Walmart before too long. I just want to hit a couple of highlights. There was a pile of debris 30 feet high and 70 feet long on the side of the road. It was a mountain of trees. Every house had at least four feet high pile of the guts of their home next to the curb intermingled with years worth of possessions. Every structure had water lines, usually 6-12 of them, for miles we traveled. The further in we went the fewer people we saw.

We checked out a bunch of churches, inside and out, to see the damage. Sanctuaries covered in mold, pews overturned, and ancient organs twisted and broken. It was enough to make your heart hurt. We came across a Methodist Hymnal with at least 15 different colored molds. We of course wore mask, which in itself puts you in a somber mood knowing you don't dare take it off for fear of catching some ten syllable disease.

The term Sanctuary has, to me, always meant more than a place to have worship service on Sunday mornings. I see it as a place of safety and an impenetrable fortitude from the dangers and distractions of the "outside" bustle. A place where you can always find God, and He is always ready to bear the burden of your heart. But to see what water can do to the House of God is mind blowing. Water is a central theme in the bible, usually signifying a cleaning, or renewal for what it comes in contact. This was definitely not the case.

"Lord Prepare me to be a Sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true." These are the words to one of my favorite praise songs. This reassures me a Sanctuary is not drywall, concrete, and a wooden cross, but a place where nothing bad can destroy it. When the Sanctuary is in you, there's no harm that can come to it. We met someone who is a member of St. Lukes Church in NO. He is a contractor and through God speaking to him one night at a worship service, he has decided to rebuild the church. He wants it to be the first building rebuilt, so the church can be the center of the community. He has already started and his enthusiams is Amazing. He has the energetic, contagious personality that will get the Church rebuilt in no time at all. He is the perfect example of a Living Sanctuary for all those willing can find and use. To see some good from all the bad helps to assimilate all the negative and know there is that silver lining.


Now, I know my thoughts have been random and not to my usual standard of eloquence, but in situations like this, raw, unreprised emotions are more suited. . . So, my camera's battery died before I could take too many pictures, but at least I have some.