Praying for the Gulf Coast

A year ago, I was part of a team that took a group of youth from the parish I was serving - St. Andrew's - to Bay St. Louis, MS, to help with the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Even though it had been 2 years since Katrina, it still seemed like the hurricane had just happened. We stayed in quonset huts, showered in a bathroom trailer, had meals prepared in a catering trailer, and worshiped God in another quonset hut. Buildings - permanent ones - were still few and far between. This was life on the Gulf Coast. But the people were so nice, and so grateful to see this scraggly group of teens with hammers ready to help. I will never forget the woman who stopped us in Wal Mart (we were getting Gatoraide) asking who we were working for. She said she had been leaving messages with a different organization asking for help, and never heard back. She had been leaving in a trailer next to her home, and was clearly tired and frustrated. I wanted to tell her we'd come help her too, but we couldn't - we already had someone who was counting on us to come and help. It was an awful feeling.

But now, watching that area go through it again is excurciating. I pray that all the people there are safe and that damage will be minimal. And, I pray that recovery will happen much faster this time around.