A Mighty Work

That's what Pastor Gerry called it in his prayer last night after dinner for 100 volunteers getting ready to leave the next day for home. "Thank you, Lord, for the mighty work you are accomplishing here in Biloxi." People getting ready to leave feel as if they have done so little. Their time here is short, their skills are often limited, there is so much to do. You feel as if your contribution has been the tiniest drop in a bottomless well.

They come from all over the country, those volunteers. Some come to frame doors and windows and lead construction crews. Some come to carry supplies to jobs and trim out for the painters. Some come to cook three meals a day for 100 people or see to it that the towels are clean and stacked when volunteers arrive gritty and sweaty from construction work. Others bring compassion and healing skills to our clinic. Dinner is controlled pandemonium with dozens of conversations going on. People talk about what they did during the day. They talk about what brought them to Biloxi and how many trips down they have made. Sometimes they talk about the people they meet, those affected by the storm, and pass on the inspiration of the stories they hear. We have come to know that God is present in this work. That the face of a stranger can become the face of God to you, or that your love and caring can be the face of God to someone else. We talk about where we have seen the face of God each day.

It continues to amaze me that the darkness Katrina has wrought on the Mississippi Coast can bring such light. But miracles happen here daily, large miracles and small. The Santa Shop gave toys to almost 700 children and every teenager received a $25 Wal-Mart card. Adopt My Room gave complete bedrooms to 70 children. They came here on a Saturday after Christmas with their families and had their picture taken while they sat on a bed with their own new sheets draped over it. My brothers and sister and I adopted a bedroom for Jaden Goodwin, and I got to meet him and his family. He was thrilled with his Spiderman bedspread and sheets. We received a committment for a commercial stove the day our oven blew up.

Tuesday night Miss Judy and I drove out to Moss Point with a group from Waupaca, Wisconsin. Pastor Otis Hardy has a mission there in an African American neighborhood that sponsors local families who have lost their homes, are looking for work, who are having trouble meeting the needs of their families. The congregation in Waupaca has been providing school supplies to Pastor Otis's ministry through the year. When 25 of them came to work on rebuilding houses, they brought handmade quilts and afghans, cash and more school supplies. The families of Pastor Otis's congregation welcomed them with a huge dinner of Mexican specialties including Pastel Tres Leches and Flan. Yum! What an crowd. How else would a group from Waupaca meet a group from Mexico in an African-American neighborhood in Mississippi? How else but through the intervention of Katrina?

The struggle among many residents here is still to hang on to hope, and the gift of volunteers is the hope that shines from them that life can be restored to something approaching normal. But the volunteers will tell you that the real gift comes from being able to work here among those whose lives have been so affected by this devastation. It is humbling to be in the presence of those who have survived such tragedies. It touches your deepest heart to be thanked for the hope and care you bring, when you have only spent a week carrying drywall or hearing sad stories. The real gift is seeing Jesus in the least, and knowing that you have been priviliged beyond expectation to walk with them for a time. When you get ready to leave here, you are already planning your trip back.