when did we see you ?

staying in touch

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:47:00 +0000

Word this morning from Johnny Wray, executive director of Week of Compassion, to the WOC Advisory Committee ('board'):

Dear Friends –

Just as we remember the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we’re preparing for a storm (Gustav) that could be every bit as dangerous. Josh Baird (WOC special hurricane rep and our site manager at our Slidell and Covington missions stations) will be arriving at our farm in MS later tonight til the storm blows thru. Carl Zerweck has been in touch with our other stations and is making the necessary precautions and preparations. We have ample des. hurricane funds to make quick responses to our churches and members that might be affected and to help facilitate the responses of CWS and our many long term recovery partners throughout the Gulf South that we’ve been working with these last 3 years. And we’ve already begun responding to partners in the Caribbean (esp. Haiti and the Dominican Republic) who are already responding to the damage Gustav has left behind there. As they say – pray for the best, prepare for the worst. Will keep you posted.

I replied, as a board member, but also in behalf of the congregation:

Obviously we’re all keeping an eye on news and weather reports. As Gustav lands, let us know what Geist can do. All of our folks that have been on work trips the last three years have been saying ‘I can’t believe they’re going through this again’ – awareness is high, and generosity will be too when needed.

If you need ME somewhere, or US, you know how to reach me.

As our congregation prepares for the unbelievably exciting and joyous occasion of becoming 'one church in two locations,' it's humbling to know that so many may look to us for help, and hope. What a powerful time to expand our ministry.

I hope you'll check back to this blog site often. I'll post news - and NEEDS - as it comes through.

In prayer, with hope ...

what to say?

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:51:00 +0000

With eyes and ears glued to the news and weather reports, our land-locked midwestern community holds in prayer our friends in and on the Gulf Coast.

As Hurricane Gustav - moving through Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba at category 4, downshifting to a 3, and expected to leapfrog back up to a FIVE before making landfall anywhere and everywhere from the Texas to Florida borders - nears the gulf coast states, what on earth do you say?

Those in our community that have served on mission teams since August 29 2005 when Katrina struck (and Rita two weeks later) have been talking to each other all weekend: "I can't believe they're going to go through this again." "I hope people choose to evacuate this time." "I wonder if the cities will be able to help (especially those who can't help themselves) get away in time." "I'm so worried about John and his mom ..." "Andre and Otha ..." "Miss Simmons ..."

It's not just 'the people who live there.' Now it's people we know. By name. Their houses, their belongings, their stories ... we know them now.

And we still don't know what to say.

We hope it is sufficient - we hope it will make do - that our most fervent prayers, our deepest compassion, our greatest blessing ... may THIS be the wave that covers our brothers and sisters in the south. May they know our love, be spared in life and limb, and when the time comes, may they know the quick and gracious response of all who can - and will - step in to help.

"Now I see..."

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:32:00 +0000

In addition to our church member Carol Gebhardt, our little trio of workers was rounded out by my close friend Angelique Codarmaz Rainey. The night before we left New Orleans, I asked Angelique if she'd write down some of her thoughts from and about our mission week ... It was a great gift to share the week with her ... I want to share her words with you.

"Passion begins with a burden and a split-second moment when you understand something like never before. That burden is on those who know. Those who don't know are at peace. Those of us who do know get disturbed and are forced to take action." -Wangari Maathai, Winner of Nobel Peace Prize

Courtney shared this quote with me, as we prepared our dinner back at the mission station, the last night that we all shared in New Orleans. It brought into focus all the swirling thoughts that had been collecting over the last few days for me. There was just so much to be seen, so many stories to hear, so much to sort out and so very little time.

I had never been to New Orleans. I never saw the beauty of the famed city for myself. I always meant to but never did. Then Katrina became a front page story, a daily headline and a national scandal. I felt a sense of loss having missed my chance to see this historical gem in all its glory. Time went on and the headlines faded from the press, with only an occasional mention of Brad Pitt or Harry Connick Jr. I let it slip from my mind as well. Until I needed a vacation.

I decided to go on a mission trip and I didn't really care where or when or what I would be doing, it was just time to go. Thank goodness my preacher friend Courtney had just the plan; a mission to New Orleans for hurricane relief. 'Awesome!' I thought. 'I can finally see this cool place I had always wanted to go, and do something for someone else at the same time.' And here I sit feeling completely ignorant.

It is just shy of the third anniversary of this natural disaster. Three years since countless Americans lost their lives, their property, their control, their hope, and their faith in a government they waited upon for rescue. They still wait. They are just now coming home. Some are just now finding a way to BEGIN to start over. For them it is still going on. It is still a nightmare. For them it is nowhere near over.

Our group worked on the home of a mother and son. Their 100-year-old shotgun double had survived the storm and the flood and the chaos that followed in the months it took the family to regain the means to come home. We sat during our lunch breaks and asked Andre about his experiences, and he told us. He spoke of how he survived the storm alone. How he worried when he lost contact with his family. How he was shuttled from one place to another with no knowledge of where his family was, where he was going, or when he would get back. He told us how he was encouraged to make a home away from his beloved New Orleans. And he told us how important it was for him to be back home. His mother Otha talked about having to move six times since Katrina. She spoke of how excited she is to prepare to move this one last time, into her beautiful 'new' old home. When we posed for pictures with Andre and Otha, Andre said over and over again, 'Show everyone these pictures. Show 'em so they know we here and they need to believe our stories. Show 'em, 'cause we still here."

On our tour of the lower 9th Ward, the most devastated of areas within the city, we met a man named Michael. His story was no less heartbreaking. He and his house were washed away in the storm surge. He spent 13 days at the Superdome with severe injuries before receiving care. His home destroyed, he had no reason to return, except that his mother had owned that property before him and now he owned it outright. He wasn't about to be told to find a new place to settle. So there he sits, the only house on his block surrounded by a meadow of tall grasses and wildlife where once there was house after house filled with families and pets, neighbors and friends. They are no more. He is alone and broken-hearted.

And now so am I. Now I know this burden. Now I see what is yet to be done. Now I see that for most of you it is over enough to never give it another thought. Now I see that I will never be able to put it out of my mind.

House after house is marked with a sign that says 'Don't tear us down, we're coming back' or 'We are rebuilding'. But those homes have been sitting vacant for three years now. They haven't found the resources to make good on that paper promise. Faith-based relief services like the ones that organized our trip are the ONLY ones helping these people keep their promise to come home. FEMA is long gone. The news media is long gone. It is the Church that is still here fighting for the spirit of these survivors. It is the Body of Christ that continues to show mercy and love to those of our brothers and sisters who are still in so much need.

I beg you, before you sleep tonight say a prayer for the comfort and healing of your brothers and sisters in New Orleans. If you have the time or talent, come to New Orleans and lend a hand. If you have treasure, give to Week of Compassion. There is still an urgent need for help.

the desert shall bloom

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Praise God for balance and perspective. Tonight I was reading a friend's online journal, about being with his 80 year old brother this week and his 4 month old grandson next. It caught me at the same time, and in the same place, as the stuff I've been dealing with while away this week.

There's the whole swirl of being here in New Orleans ... what we're doing, who we're meeting, what we've seen, the stories we hear ... and then there's the counterbalance of "the real world." (Like it gets more real than this?)

I generally try to really release 'work' when I'm on mission trips, in order to focus ON mission. But as you know, the mission focus at Geist Christian Church for the last -- well, several years, but especially the last several months -- has been living into the vision of one church in two locations. That means, travel or not, I need to stay connected, check and answer messages, catch up on little tasks in the evenings at the end of the mission work day, etc.: Something was forgotten, can we get together to talk about, and oh can you also such and such, and so and so won't be able to whatever, and there's a question about this or that.

And then I also have messages that: this will be ready no problem ... this couple would like to join a Sunday School class ... this guy has offered to be a greeter if we still need them ... this woman wants to join a four-year intensive bible study and is it okay that she's not a church member ... the meeting on Tuesday night is fine, everyone has great ideas coming together, ready to sit face to face and sort through ... thanks for your help with that volunteer list ... looking forward to talking about a new mission opportunity for our family, a way to serve together.

It's just such a blessing to have that swell of goodness to come in and drown out the bits and pieces that jump up and clamor for attention, seeming a lot like tasks and only a little like ministry.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. (Isa 35:1-2)

Pray that the people of the gulf coast would know a new kind of ocean in the ironic desert the floods left behind.
Not the ocean that overwhelms with waves of destruction and currents of devastation and need. Not the dried up three-year-old remnants of forgetfulness, feelings of helplessness and inconsequence welling up. May there be for them - and for all in need - an ocean of kindness, mercy, integrity, and compassion, running waters of hope and justice through their desert of sorrow.

get ready, get set ...

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:32:00 +0000

... to get ready and get set.
It felt like we never quite hit 'go' today, though it IS Day One of work.

One of the big lessons of mission trippin' is that Your schedule isn't really so much up to YOU.

> There's orientation. No matter how many trips, no matter how big (or small) the group, no matter which agency, everyone gets a review of what's going on, what's planned, how things work, reminders about the 3S's and an F: safety, sensitivity, Spirit and flexibility.

> There's acclimation. Get the directions, follow one group to their site and see it and hear about what they'll do, and then follow again to your site and see it and find out what you'll do. And once you're there, see what the group before you did, didn't, kind of did (and sometimes really shouldn't have that you now end up UNdoing).

> And there's deviation. You think since it's already a short work day, so you should cram in your lunch and jump right back up and get a move on. But there's a homeowner there who needs someone to just sit still a few minutes and let him be frustrated about the condition of the neighborhood, or the attitude of the neighbors, or the injustices of the system, or whatever. That's part of your work, too ... knowing when to refrain from working.

So at the end of the day: "I feel like I didn't really do much today." Ohhh, but you did!
- You met another group from another church in another state, here to share in the same big-picture project that you're blessed to be part of.
- You got the lay of the land, instructions on all the tasks, and figured out how to get back and forth between 'home' and 'work' - and where the available 'facilities' are in between!
- You cleared the work space and found the supplies and figured out what is missing and still needed and organized the punch list to fire off right out of the gate in the morning.
- You met a homeowner, and learned that his mother and brother owned the double-shotgun-home you're working on, that his brother passed just before the storm, and that his sister-in-law and nieces left when the storm came. He'll live there next to his mom now, in this brand new home.
- You learned patience with yourself and flexibility with circumstances outside your control, and that compassion vastly outweighs spackle as a contribution to a project.
- You met the next homeowner in line, who came to work with you today, because her house is ready for her to work on it, but she is in town (from Chicago where she's been nearly three years) and wanted to help someone who was getting ready to move home.
- And you prayed: For a meal prepared with love. For the blessings of the day. For the peace to endure frustrations tomorrow. And for the blessed opportunity to offer some measure of comfort on a rainy and blustery day.

Not bad for a 'short work day'. Well done, good and faithful servant. It is an honor to serve with you.

annnnnddd ... we're back!

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:03:00 +0000

Truth be told, we've been back to the gulf coast - three times! - since last this blog was published:

CYF (high school youth) - July '07
TrueNorth (all men's trip) - September '07
Selah (all women's trip) - February '08

and yet your faithful associate minister (and blogger), was not so faithful in that task, for which I vastly apologize. Later this week, look for photo albums from those trips, and terrific reflections from the youth on the 7/07 trip. (Man, it's embarrassing just to type that!) (* Edited to add: Ha! And even more embarrassing, you'll have to look for them NEXT week 'cause the drive? With those files? Is sitting on my kitchen table. Oy vey.)

Now that we're back - literally - again, we'll have photos and news and notes for you throughout the week, as we try in whatever small measure to offer the gift of ourselves, and the love of Christ - and from Geist - to the amazing souls of New Orleans.

For now, a night's rest. Work starts at 8:00am.

You are in our prayers, and we know we are in yours.

re-entry

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:49:00 +0000

The day after we returned from Covington, standing in the Great Hall ... in the middle of a beautiful space and a loving and welcoming congregation, Myrta said, It feels weird to be here. Like I shouldn't be. It's not real here. I nodded and smiled, and had to agree.

Space shuttle missions have taught us the word "re-entry," that period on the return leg of the mission where things have to line up just right in the atmosphere and the technology or everything gets knocked out of whack ... sometimes, as we've seen with unspeakably tragic consequences.

Same in returning from mission trips, we've learned. There's a bit of 'burning up on re-entry' (clearly not the same painful extent - I dare not take the analogy that far). But while your body is tired from the good work of the great week, your heart and mind are still with the people you met, and the people you saw, and the things you experienced. It's a surreal return adventure, and sometimes it takes a bit for everything to line up, in your soul, like it should.

Then again, maybe that IS how it 'should' be. I think it's that re-entry that keeps it fresh for those who go, and makes us long to return ... and take others with us. There is more ... plenty more ... to be done. I hope you'll join us.

May 12 - 19: Lake Charles
July 21 - 28: CYF (high school youth), New Orleans
September 15 - 22: McComb MS
November 10 - 17: Algiers/New Orleans

(Coming soon! The Covington/Chalmette photo album to be added to the menu at the right. The mystery Gulfport album has been floating around too, but should link from the menu as well!)

like I said

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:01:00 +0000

Ronnie and I were talking about his neighborhood, his few streets tucked away in Chalmette, Louisiana. There are probably 25 houses on his block and the next. He says EIGHT of his neighbors have returned. "I think that everyone who's coming back, IS back."

If you see a trailer, there's a family in/working on that house. Many are close. Few are done. Most are still. just. sitting there. That's kind of hard to fathom, isn't it?

But, it sounds like they're right on track with what population surveys are suggesting.

Hard to believe...

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 05:13:00 +0000

... that getting 2 (mudding and sanding) of 3 (plus painting) parts of the week's intended task accomplished is still labeled "really great work". (Our project leader IS a rather generous soul!)
We started the week excited to clip through the mudding and sanding of drywall in the 2br/2bath house. By week's end (we start home this (Friday 3/9) afternoon), the fact that we've mudded and sanded every bit of drywall (1600 sqft of house) within an inch of its life means that the walls are totally dead set and ready for the next group to roll up its rollers and paint. (And I'm here to tell you ... those walls? Are smoooooooooth.)

... that two people you met on Sunday afternoon could, by Friday afternoon, be two people you just hate not to take home with you.
Of course, Rich and Dona DO live in Indy, so technically ... Two members of Speedway Christian Church, who have each made multiple trips to assist here in the coast region, literally could not be more wonderful if they tried.
> Rich, brave soul that he is, spent the entire week with this 'women's mission trip' gang from Geist ... having decided on Thursday last that he would leave on Saturday morning at oh-dark-whatever with Dona ... so that she didn't drive on her own, and so that he could put in another week's giving to Ronnie and Janet, special and wonderful folks that they are.
> Dona, it must be said, is all the good things you hear about and want in the people you meet, wrapped up in a teeny little package. Turning 77 just this Tuesday (it was birthdays-a-plenty this week!), six-months widowed and yet determined not let any bit of her fire go out, Dona is on her third trip to be part of Louisiana's recovery. With an eye for perfection like none other, Ronnie and Janet's home has been in good hands these many weeks. And Dona will be back to check on them when Speedway sends another group in a few weeks.

... that a church of 50 members would be home to hundreds over dozens of weeks.
Since the storm, 18 months ago, Grace Disciples of Christ in Covington LA (directly north of New Orleans, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain) has been a mission station. As the Shards Ministry (more to come) attests, amid brokenness, even the very brokenness of Christ, we find our oneness. Tending first to its members and faith community connections, then opening its doors, its showers, its kitchen, its halls and floors and sanctuary and very heart to hundreds of complete strangers, since Day One.

In jeeps and vans and cars and RVs, they descend upon Grace, these groups ... and yet, safe to say that moreover, grace descends upon them. All churches should be so open, so welcoming, so love-one-another.

Grace -- both the church and the concept -- also makes it hard to believe ...

... that everyone we know hasn't already put a date on their calendar, dug out their work gloves, and packed a bag.
What
ARE
you
waiting
for?

two days in

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 02:18:00 +0000

Since you have to hear from me all the time, I thought you might enjoy hearing from someone ELSE for a change!

All five of the fanTAStic women who've joined me this week are first-time mission trippers. It is always interesting to see something through new eyes ...

We have been helping a family living in Chalmette to rebuild their home. We are to the finishing of the walls, and painting this week. It is exciting to be this close to getting a family back into their home.

It is most enjoyable to me to have time to chat with Janet and Ronnie (the homeowners) and hear all their personal stories. They have been fixing us lunch each day and it is some traditional down home southern cooking (red beans and rice, dirty rice).

The neighborhood is still in devastating condition, with few businesses open and the neighborhood is primarily empty gutted homes. An example of how things in this town are hard to understand: Today phone books were delivered to abandoned and demolished homes. Then Janet mentions there is no phone service since Katrina ... and won’t be till June!

Tomorrow we have a day of work and some extra fellowship time that includes a tour of other areas and also going to the French Quarter.

This has been an enjoyable experience. It is challenging at times, but I feel that I will be changed by this adventure!
Brianna

Wow. What an experience. I couldn’t even imagine when I got here what I would see. I have never seen such destruction in someone’s life.

Ronnie and Janet are such wonderful people and have such positive attitudes. I have spent much of the time that I am sanding drywall thinking about the situations that this community has been through ... and the dreams they have sleeping in a FEMA trailer with empty, abandoned houses all around and no noise or neighbors.

I stop sanding and think to myself I am not strong enough to deal with this kind of loss, But I have learned, I will never think of material things the same. The most important things in life aren’t things.
Aftan

Couldn't be more proud of a group of women ... or more sore, from work, and from laughter. My favorite combination.

Selah!

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 03:35:00 +0000

"Selah!" The word is used in wisdom literature, particularly the Psalms, to remind the reader (aloud or silent) to pause, breathe, allow the spirit of God to move within the words and the heart, drawing the two together, doing the work that only God can.

And so this week, six women have gathered - carrying with them the prayers of Selah! Ministries for Women at Geist Christian Church, and of the entire congregation.

It is a remarkable gift of ministry that THIS is the kind of thing I get to do ... bring five women who, with one mother-daughter exception, didn't really previously know each other and witness the creation of something wonderful. Relationships. Faithfulness. Community. Power. Spirit. Justice. Service.

Another snowy Saturday morning saw the group into the SUVs and out onto the highway.

(L to R: Jacquie Berry, Aftan Cox, Sarah Walker, Brianna Oliver, Courtney Richards, Myrta McQueen) (Special thanks to Pam Trapp for: being Trip Info Woman ... bringing us Cookies For The Road ... and taking the picture!) (Diane, get well soon!)

Making good time (and they said it couldn't be done!), we overnighted in Grenada, MS and drove the rest of the way (today) into Covington, Louisiana, with plenty of time to get settled in, lay in supplies, and begin to hear the stories we will live into this week. The more-than-appropriately named Grace Disciples of Christ Church is our place for rest, renewal and lodging at the end of the day.

We will work this week in {edited 3/6/07:} Chalmette, in the area known as "the infamous St. Bernard's Parish, or Da Parish", as my friend Matt pointed out! (Thanks, M!) (Covington/Mandeville, where we're staying, is in St. Tammany. Duly noted!) We are joined by Rich and Donna, two members of Speedway Christian Church, and led by George and Dixie Smith, from Carmel Christian Church. Each of these four adds IMMEASURABLY to the spirit and power of the week. You will hear more of them as we go.

For now ... for now?

Just know that every time you write a check or hand me money and say "We can't go but we want to help" ... every time you let me know that you're praying for me and for this group while we travel ... every time you think of us while we're away and wonder how things are going ... every word of support you offer to the spouses and children who are at home with part of the family away consumed in this work ... we know.

We feel it. We sense it and breathe it deeply into our week. We use that energy and that blessing that is YOU ... it fuels our work, and inspires our laughter, and nurtures our sense of purpose and mission and direction and witness.

You are each part of this, as much as we who sand and paint and carry. And we are each SO. VERY. GRATEFUL.

a word from Johnny

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:15:00 +0000

February 26 Week of Compassion update
WOC Director Visits Hurricane Area

Dear Friends,

How interesting, perplexing, satisfying, disheartening, energizing...to have spent this week traveling across the Gulf South, visiting communities, churches, pastors, mission stations and hurricane related recovery partners - all while so many of our congregations are in the midst of their 2007 Week of Compassion observances and celebrations. What a multitude of emotions!

It is disheartening to see still so much destruction and so little recovery progress in community after community across Mississippi and Louisiana. It is maddening to see casinos and high-rise luxury condominiums well underway, even completed and occupied, while thousands upon thousands of homeowners have yet to receive their fair insurance settlements. It is perplexing to drive down I-59 from Hattiesburg to New Orleans and see acres and acres of farmland packed fencerow to fencerow with FEMA trailers and then visit with a displaced couple living in the dining room of the still-to-be-repaired home of their grandkids.

And yet, how energizing to visit, for example, First Christian Church, Slidell, LA, and their pastor, Susan Lassalle - a church we might have lost after Katrina but that now is growing, working together, reaching out to the community, hosting work groups week after week, looking to the future with hope and excitement. How encouraging to stop and chat with work groups from all across the church (this week I ran into Disciples from OK, MO, OH, IL, TX and IN) that are repairing homes, building churches, making lasting friendships, enriching the lives of work team members, and even bringing new life to their congregations back home! How deeply satisfying to visit with a director of a local long-term recovery partner, struggling to meet payroll and to pay for the ever rising costs of materials, yet vowing she won't close shop until the last unmet need is met.

Our theme this year is "Who is my neighbor?" I met a lot of our neighbors this week. Some of our neighbors, still in the ditch, needing "oil and wine." Some at "the inn," longing to go home. I met some of our neighbors who have traveled long distances and work hard from dawn to dusk to bind wounds. I met others who are working every day to make the road from Jericho to Jerusalem a little safer so folk won't keep getting knocked down and beaten up. And I keep meeting folk like you all across our church who give their denaris and dollars to Week of Compassion so we Disciples can continue to be neighbors in Mississippi and Louisiana, in Mozamibue and Nicaragua, in Darfur and Indonesia - wherever there are people, God's people, whose needs lay a claim on our compassion.

turnaround

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:51:00 +0000

Today, our intrepid team turns around and begins the homeward journey. It will be good to have them back, safe and sound in their own homes and beds, having spent the week working hard to see that OTHERS could be safe and sound in theirs

The report today was of some touring of the area, to note the progress ... or lack of it. Fascinating things to consider:

On our very first trip to New Orleans, 90 days after the storm, was all about demo. Tear out. Gutting. Mud and sludge and filth and mold and rip-and-tear labor. The last two days of our team's work was with the poignantly insightful Mrs. Simmons. We cleared out debris, tore out everything including appliances, and peeled the house back to its foundation and framing.

Would you like to see Mrs. Simmons house as Jim photographed it this morning -- eighteen months after the storm? Ta - da ! Look! You can see the foundation! and the framing! Unbelievable. Unbelievable ... and so. completely. wrong.

Not quite the 'turnaround' we'd hoped for, is it?! The need for help is so much bigger than we can imagine ... and so much more than we can meet on our own ... and yet we are there.

We contribute to the mission fund.

We pack our bag and get in the van and make the trip.

We provide a meal for family left here at home while another goes off to serve.

The need is great, but God is greater. And God is there through people like these -- people like YOU.

We are there working week by week, group by group, house by house ... praying and praying and working and praying some more. Praying and working for justice, for healing, and for hope.

moving right along

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:44:00 +0000

You know how sometimes you travel out of town, for business or vacation or whatever? And you don't take the kids along, so you call home to check on them and you're talking to one and there's one in the background talking to you at the same time and it all turns into this scrambled jumbled mess?

Well today's lunchtime chat was a little like that, except I am here and the 'kids' are gone. Exchanged quick emails with Jim today and then caught up midday to say hello by phone.

Jim: We're on to a new house today, everyone's in really great spirits. We feel like we're making an impact. It's raining today, but we have lots of work to do inside. This house is close to move-in condition ... a little paint and trim, some electrical and plumbing, the appliances are sitting here in place ... they're really close.

I asked if they'd gone across the lake last night (into Nawlin's) ... it WAS Mardi Gras after all. (Jim had said the day they left, "We may be the only group ever to go to New Orleans the week of Mardi Gras and not go FOR Mardi Gras!" Hey, what happens in Nawlin's ... ) Come to think of it, he didn't say "no" ... But he DID say that after a day of wrestling new sheds onto foundations and frames, the crew went OUT for dinner last night ... sometimes 'do it yourself' dinner, after a heavy-duty day of labor, is just more than you can face. I hear there was cheesecake involved ...

So Jim passes the phone to whoever's nearby ... Janet's next.
Except I couldn't hear more than every other sentence because SOMEONE (and I have a bet) was yammering at her in the background. Apparently John and Janet have been sharing a 10x10 room, painting ... and there was something about if I'd been there I would have been able to keep them under control (yeah, DOUBT that) ...

I did manage to catch two things just before she said goodbye ... "That Dana's a hard worker! She's really goin' to town!"

And then ... check, check, is this thing on? ... "We're really having a great time. I don't know why more people don't volunteer." (Helloooo out there?!)

So John comes along and says that he's really taking one for the team this week, and that Janet apparently should be asked to sing a solo the weekend they return from the trip because she's been getting quite the practice in during their work days ... in their 10x10 room. "Jim says I get a medal."

Jim takes the phone one more time and reports, "So like I said, obviously everyone is in really high spirits." Checking on the other new kid not heard from yet, I asked after Dave ... and was told that he is apparently doing all the work and everyone else is sitting around looking good for it. So, Dave Sterling, working away in your corner ... here's to you!

we're here

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:38:00 +0000

Our faithful servants arrived in Covington, LA on Sunday afternoon. As you saw on the map, Covington is straight north across Lake Ponchatarain from New Orleans. To give you some idea, this means the damage in the Covington/Slidell areas were more from the storm itself, and surges out of the surrounding water, than from the ruptured levees and standing water as in New Orleans itself.

Work began in earnest on Monday morning with the Speedway Christian Church gang headed to one project, and the Geist crew working with our Northshore partners.

Jim reports:

Well, as it turns out, we're not actually working with George and Dixie {Smith, from Carmel Christian Church, who we worked with during the April '06 Beaumont trip}, but we get to see them every night. The Speedway group gets to work with them.

We got sent to the Northshore Disater Recovery group and they assigned us a project.

Our homeowner is Levette. Her mother is in her 80s with a brain tumor. Her father died the morning Katrina made landfall. Levette tried to get him to the emergency room but didn't get there in time. She came home and rode out the storm in the house with mom. Levette's out of work, her and her mom get by on a small social security check.

The house was badly damaged: rooms, walls, etc. The only saving grace is that the water was only 2 feet of storm surge and receded in a few hours. Groups before us have fixed most of the house. Dave put in some basedboards and we've got a ceiling fan, ceiling tiles, and some inside odd jobs tomorrow.

But the big kahuna job here was clearing the remains of a 12'x24' storage shed/garage. The tree that hit the house took the shed out completely. We hauled the rotted wood and contents from it most of the day to clear the concrete slab to put in 2 new smaller mini-barn style storage sheds.

Here, John and Dana are hauling stuff away early in the day.
And here, progress! John with the pile as it starts to shrink.
Sounds like they're off to a roaring start ... and see? They don't miss me at all! :-)

More to come ...

first of 7 - in '07

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:16:00 +0000

A little different look to the departure, THIS trip

than to the last trip.

I hope you'll keep in your prayers this week the first of our "7 in '07" Partners in Comfort mission trippers: Jim Minatel (Nov '05, Apr '06) and Janet Annest (Sept '06), trip veterans and leaders, plus three "new kids", Dana Conner, John Smitha, and Dave Sterling. They'll spend the week housed out of Grace Disciples of Christ Church in Covington, working each day with Northshore Disaster Recovery, a United Methodist mission partner, in Slidell.

It would be lying if I said I didn't miss being in the van ... and they just left 15 minutes ago! They've promised to send updates and pictures, though, so keep in touch here for all the news from the trip (well, all the news that's fit to print!).

But it would also be lying if I said that this wasn't EXACTLY what we had in mind in creating the idea and the mission of Partners in Comfort: increasing the circle of commitment and leadership into our community, and connecting our community to others.

Fifteen trips over a two year period will be a lot:
A lot of people.
A lot of money.
A lot of prayer.
And a lot of hope brought to a community STILL - more than a year later - devastated by losses of unimaginable proportions.

The commitment of this congregation, and so many like us, to spend the time ... and the money ... and the spiritual and physical energy to make a difference, is such a gift.

As we said to those who just packed up and headed out, "You are the hands and feet of Christ in the world, and it is a profound responsibility and wonderful gift … make the most of it!"

"in the mud"

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 14:22:00 +0000

There is a must-read article in today's Washington Post. I hope you'll read the entire piece; it is well worth it. In the meantime, here a few things that caught my eye ... and my heart.

... charity efforts have constituted more than 80 percent of the home rebuilding completed so far, local and charity officials said.

Fewer than one in five families here {Mississippi} are back in their homes, but nearly all of them have relied to some extent on charity groups.

"Without the volunteers and the donations, we'd still be in the mud." ...

The fact that now, 17 months after Hurricane Katrina, only a small fraction of the home rebuilding has been completed and that most of it has been done by charity groups is viewed here as both wonderful and disappointing -- wonderful that so many strangers have arrived to help, but disappointing that the federal aid and insurance payouts have proved, for now, so unavailable.

The charitable groups and residents also say they sometimes worry that as the rest of the country forgets about their plight, the flow of volunteers that they have relied upon could shrink.

Several expressed outrage that there was no mention of the hurricane recovery in President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday.

"We still look like a bomb hit us, and then the president in his national address doesn't even mention us? That really hurt." ...

Along the woodsy roadsides, hand-painted plywood signs offer community encouragement -- "Keep Hope Alive" and "Katrina Was Big, God Was Bigger."

For what you have already done ... thank you.

For the countless ways you have served, given, worked, prayed, and cared for these neighbors-not-next-door ... thank you.

There is still SO. VERY. MUCH. to be done. Be part of God's big work in the world ... be part of the healing, the recovery, the hope of the Gulf Coast.

Partners in Comfort ... seven trips in '07, eight in '08. Six are on the calendar. It's never too early, never too late, to be one of the messengers who not only speak the love of Christ, but live it.

February 18 - 24, 2007: Covington, Louisiana

March 4 – 10, 2007: Covington, Louisiana
*Sponsored by Selah! Ministries for Women at Geist Christian Church, this is the first (annual?!) women’s mission trip.

May 13 - 19, 2007: Lake Charles, Louisiana
*Hit hard by Hurricane Rita, Lake Charles has been quite overlooked in other recovery efforts.

July 22 - 28, 2007: Slidell, Louisiana
*This trip is specifically for CYF (high school) youth and adult sponsors.

September 16 - 22, 2007: McComb, Mississippi

November 11 - 17, 2007: Algiers/New Orleans, Louisiana

in other news

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:25:00 +0000

THIS makes my heart so happy.

To me, punitive damages are secondary (I mean, easy for me to say, it's NOT me.)

But seriously ... they paid their premiums ... you pay the claim. That's. How. It. Works.

Or should.

And now can.

Rock on, Judge Senter.

sixth of seven!

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 04:03:00 +0000

So the commitment is for 7 trips in '07 ... and we now have the sixth on the calendar.

CYF (high school) youth ...
July 22 - 28, 2007
Slidell LA

Whoohoo!

Let's see ... four "y'all-come" trips ... a women's trip ... a youth trip ... um, who are we missing? Wait, wait, don't tell me.

TRUE NORTH? When's the men's trip? Huh?

I mean, no pressure ... really ... I'm just sayin' ...

thank God for small favors

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:41:00 +0000

From this week's Week of Compassion Update:

Official Hurricane Season Ends Quietly
People up and down the Atlantic seaboard and all across the Gulf South are breathing a huge collective sigh of relief as an unexpected and unusually mild hurricane season ends today. 2004 and 2005 were two of the costliest and most damaging hurricane seasons in meteorological history, and communities across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas are still years away from normalcy. Hurricane Katrina alone killed more than 1500 people, left tens of thousands homeless and caused billions of dollars of damage.
2006 had been predicted to be another busy year, but there were just nine named storms, only two of which were major storm systems. Only two tropical storms hit the U.S. mainland, neither causing significant damage. In 2005 there were 28 named storms, 15 reaching hurricane strength and four striking the U.S., including Katrina and Rita.

Disciples Hurricane Efforts Continue
Grateful for such a mild season, Disciples nevertheless are moving at full speed with hurricane recovery efforts. Week of Compassion, in partnership with Disciples Home Missions' Office of Disciples Volunteering, the Great River and Southwest regions, five local Disciples Mission Stations, scores of ecumenical church partners, and hundreds of Disciples congregations across the whole church, is supporting hurricane recovery work all across the Gulf South. One major program, the Disciples Hurricane Recovery Initiative, seeks to put 750 work teams into the region from September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2008. Just 3 months into the initiative more than 140 groups (20% of our goal) have either gone or have registered to go. Please visit the WOC website (www.weekofcompassion.org) for details.

This is where our Partners in Comfort gulf coast hurricane relief effort comes in. 7 trips in '07 and 8 trips in '08. Five of the 7 trips are already on the books:

February 18 - 24, 2007: Slidell, Louisiana*This trip will be in celebration of Week of Compassion, working year-round, but recognized each February. We have invited WoC Executive Director Johnny Wray to join us in Slidell.

March 4 – 10, 2007: Covington, Louisiana
*Sponsored by Selah! Ministries for Women at Geist Christian Church, this is the first (annual?!) women’s mission trip.

May 13 - 19, 2007: Lake Charles, Louisiana
*Hit hard by Hurricane Rita, Lake Charles has been quite overlooked in other recovery efforts.

September 16 - 22, 2007: McComb, Mississippi
*Working with an interfaith agency, expanding the reach of recovery.

November 11 - 17, 2007: Algiers/New Orleans, Louisiana
*This mission station is finishing a new facility for hosting work groups of up to 70!

(Two more dates still TBA.)

It's never too early (and usually not too late!) to get your name on the list to be part of these trips. You can also support the mission effort by being on the 'home team,' giving support from right here in Indy ... contribute to the mission fund and make it possible for others to be on the trip without concern for 'affording' it ... check out our wish list and contribute to the equipment stock for trips to come ...

If you want to get connected you just say the word and we'll make sure there's a place to plug in!

unbelievable!

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 21:54:00 +0000

Like Bob said when he sent this article my way, it's amazing that even editors and publishers don't know -- or at least don't 'get' -- the extent of the damage, the need, the destruction, the recovery yet to come.

Editors and publishers toured the Gulf Coast, from New Orleans to Biloxi (a familiar stretch, huh, Rod?) and were astonished at what they saw. Even after they'd had staff reports from the very area, pictures and all.

It's THAT dramatic, seeing it for yourself.

Makes you want to do something, doesn't it?!

Hmm, wonder how you could do something to help ... Hmmmm.

"Say unity!"

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 01:07:00 +0000

Tod sent this article and I've been slow in getting it posted. Not knowing what commercialappeal.com's schedule is for keeping articles live before they're sent to archive, I've pasted the piece in its entirety below. I don't want you to miss it.

We are part of something wondrous. God is doing amazing things in the hearts and minds of a diversity of communities. It's not just about the work WE do ... it's about paying attention to all of God's children, and how they coexist, create, serve, and grow in God's creation. We have much to learn, much to give, much to do. Who's packing for the next trip?

True labor of love for Disciples assisting New Orleans church
Members roll up their sleeves for battered sister

By Wendi C. Thomas
September 24, 2006

NEW ORLEANS -- Her clients were always asking for New Orleans-style gardens, but landscaper Nancy Evans had little idea what they meant.

She would scour the Internet and cobble something together that included crape myrtles.
"I'd do a pretty good job for someone who's never been there before," she says.

After last weekend, Evans, 48, can't say that any more.

She was among the busload of members from New Direction Christian Church and Lindenwood Christian Church who traveled to the Crescent City on a post-Katrina missions trip.

Nearly 50 signed up to sacrifice -- paying to ride the bus down, eating cold sandwiches for lunch, sleeping on a hard gym floor, listening to the chorus of snorers all around, making scary trips to the Porta Potties.

God's work this day is at Westside Christian Church, a sister church in the Disciples of Christ denomination that was battered by last year's hurricane.

At the church, Vance Moore, Westside's pastor, gives the marching orders: A team that includes three New Direction members -- surely the hardest-working, most focused women to ever wield crowbars -- will take down the old roof to make way for one made of steel. Another group cuts aluminum siding. Others will wrest nails from boards so they can be used again.

Some -- including Lindenwood member Kevin Lofton, who is blind -- will sledgehammer the bricks from the church's walls. New Direction's assistant pastor Kelvin Turner tears down drywall, dodging wasps that have made a home there.

The Dumpster next to what will be an expanded sanctuary costs $900 to unload just one load -- up from around $250 pre-Katrina -- so others stand inside it, packing in the debris as tightly as possible.

And Evans? Well, she spied a ground mover as soon as the bus rolled up to the church.
"Nancy will run the Bobcat," Pastor Moore announces. "She's an excellent Bobcatter, but that said, don't get run over."

He asks her to spread out a pile of dirt -- dressing out the yard, Evans calls it -- and she does so, her straw cowboy hat mashing down her long blond hair.

Evans notices the stump of a tree at the front of the church. "Think the pastor wants that dug up?" she wonders aloud. The tree is clearly dead, but she won't proceed without permission.
"You have to be careful with stuff like that," Evans says, her skin tan from hours spent working in the sun. "They'll say, so-and-so's mom planted that tree."

But no, Moore says to root it up, and Evans does.

The damage Westside suffered wasn't from rising water, but from falling water and wind, says Moore, who was a builder in a previous life.

The denomination sent him here not just to rebuild the building, a daunting chore by itself, but to rebuild the church, which has just 12 members now -- down from 20 before Katrina hit and a high of 200 or so in the 1980s.

This Saturday happens to be Moore's 60th birthday, and during the lunch break -- before the sandwiches are eaten with dirty fingers -- the group gathers to sing "Happy Birthday."
And then it's right back to work, with the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love," blaring through a speaker that's been dragged outdoors. It's sweaty, exhausting, dirty work, but it will make it possible for future teams to have the same back-breaking experience. The building next to the sanctuary is being turned into housing for other Disciple teams who will rebuild the homes of those who had no insurance.

Evans takes a break from the Bobcat, but her landscaper's eyes don't stop roaming. In the front of the church, in flower beds that don't yet exist, she imagines planting azaleas (red, of course, since that's the main color in the Disciples' logo).

She and Moore walk to the back of the property, and she shares her vision, which calls for truckloads of soil to level out the land.

"You can't buy dirt here," Moore tells her, it's just too expensive.

"Man," Evans says, "I'm going to pray for you some dirt."

Forty-five people have labored most of the day, and yet there's so much more to be done. Moore says 1,000 volunteers have been through the church since Katrina, and it looks like it could take 1,000 more to finish all the work.

Torrential rains that bring out the frogs cut the day short, and the group climbs back onto the bus, filthy and damp.

Twenty-five are here from Lindenwood, which is predominantly white, and 17 are here from New Direction, a predominantly black church. (Disclosure: I have attended both churches.) Of the 45 on the trip, 11 are in New Orleans for the first time.

Back at the sleeping quarters at First Christian Church of Greater New Orleans, disposable cameras come out.

"Say unity!" someone calls out as members of both churches pose. They vow not to make this a one-time thing, and it isn't. Since the trip, members of Lindenwood have gone to New Direction for Bible study and men from New Direction have visited a men's group at Lindenwood.
The next morning, Sunday, the mood is more somber -- perhaps from exhaustion, perhaps in anticipation of the next stop.

Before church, the bus takes the weekend missionaries into St. Bernard Parish, and the group is as still as if someone had said, "Let us pray."

There are blocks and blocks of abandoned houses, and on the front of each one are spray painted sad messages -- how many bodies or pets found inside, the date the house was searched and by what rescue team.

"Slow down!" several on the bus call, and the driver pulls over. The group files onto the sidewalk, and instantly, a few of the women start crying.

Next to a gas station where the gas is still $1.49 a gallon stands a pay phone. Just above the receiver is a brown line -- the level to which the water rose.

"It almost feels like an invasion, a sacrilegious thing to take pictures," Evans says.

Still, she snaps away, at a picture of Jesus and Mary taped to a window, at an American flag stuck to another window.

You must have this sort of perspective, an eye for life, to labor in New Orleans, where clouds of failure and futility float above the miles of ruins.

Just up the street is a two-story pale green house, with ornate trim and tall shutter doors painted a darker green. It was beautiful once, but what stands out most now are the words spray painted on the siding, in a garish orange.
1 -- male
1 -- female
1 -- female pup
Atlanta B/5
9/20/05

Evans puts her camera down, stunned into a rare silence.

Then, in the front yard, behind the chain-link fence, she spots the wild daisies.

Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.

occupational hazard

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:27:00 +0000

See, folks, THIS is what happens when you start doing this mission work stuff. You can't get enough of it.

Okay, Jim had already been active in Habitat projects before we started into our gulf coast relief efforts ... but it all rolls together, doesn't it? This idea of helping ... because you can.

(*Thanks to Jim Minatel for sharing the pics, probably half guessing I'd take the liberty of posting them here. Thanks, too, to all the Geist folks working on the Habitat project this fall.)

A few things to know:

> Slideshow from Gulfport should be linked to the right this week.

> Emails are going out in the morning to remind those who wanted to be on a mission team that it's never too early to actually PICK. A. DATE. ... those who offered to contribute to the mission fund to WRITE.THAT. CHECK. ... and those who agreed to pack supply kits to GET. PACKIN'.! So, including this, that's two reminders. :-)

> Five dates on the calendar for '07 ... two to come for our 7 in '07 total. Trip veterans are going to be gathering very very soon to rattle around as many ideas as we can for GETTING YOU INVOLVED. Prepare thyselves.

~ sidebar ~

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 01:33:00 +0000

~ Completely (well, relatively) unrelated to the blog at hand. ~

This video is now my favorite all time ever. Period.

and THEN

noreply@blogger.com (~ courtney ~) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:59:00 +0000

And then there are companies like Oreck ...

Who have what seems a wildly expensive 'ordinary' product. But consider:

The Oreck home office is in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the main manufacturing plant in Long Beach, Mississippi. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Oreck immediately provided shelter, food, medical care and other assitance for their employees. Not loaned, or covered temporarily. Provided.

And now? A year (and change) later? The Oreck XL Ultra sells for (hold on) $550. And they're tithing that ... 10% ... $50 of each pink Oreck purchase goes to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. They promised a minimum of $250,000 and have actually contributed $600,000 so far.

And they have set NO limit.

THAT is awesome.