Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14

“Well, I got a lot done today, but not everything I wanted to.” That is a common lament around here. The traffic is horrible, the lines are long, nothing is working just right. The insurance companies don’t answer their phone, government officials don’t seem to know what they are doing, and you seem to spend all day doing what should take a few minutes. “Where is that paper?” “What was that phone number?” “What day is it?” I’m sure many of you are experiencing those same frustrations. I guess I won’t be satisfied until things are the way they used to be.

But then again, I don’t know if I was satisfied then. I suppose there is a good side to that. Not being satisfied might make us get up in the morning and go to work. It might help us to look into the future and work to make things better. But there is also an unhealthy, even sinful side to not being satisfied. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” There is a part of us that is never satisfied with our lot in life. If you were to make a list of all the things you would need to be satisfied and you got all of them, that part of us would still not be satisfied. There is, in the end only one thing that can make us satisfied. Moses was on to it. “Satisfy us in the morning with our unfailing love.”

Every morning, I wake up, loved by God. It is all I really need and it is always there, no matter where I live or how bad the traffic is. Now that isn’t all my God gives me. He fills my life with many blessings. I don’t think I need to make a list. You know what they are and I think we see them better now than ever. (The ability to get into traffic comes to mind.) So I’ll take a deep breath of faith and try to be satisfied today because God loves me.

News:

1. We continue to receive gifts to help us rebuild from around the country. Think about what that means.

2. Kris reports that we have 14 Faith in Action people coming on Saturday. Thanks to those who will be putting them up. If any of you members would like to join them you would be more than welcome.

3. Today I’m going with the Builders for Christ leader to look at the Fellowship hall and start planning the renovation.

4. Reminders: Ladies guild on Saturday, 10 AM, Gretchen’s house. Choir practice on Sunday at 10:00. Worship at 11:00 at Hall’s.

5. Horace is still in treatment in Texas, but haven’t heard from him.

6. Carol visited the Johnsons yesterday (Cathleen, Robin, and Alexis). They are staying in Covington and anxious to return home. They would like to join us on Sundays but do not have a car. We will try to arrange transportation.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:14-15

Those who have been following our rather strange saga sometimes referred to as the aftermath of Katrina, will remember the day I reported that Carol had rescued my old Bible from the flood waters of our house. When it came to me it had been sitting in water for over two weeks. The binding was gone, the pages were still all wet and it was sporting a lovely, hairy, mold shirt. Well, I’ve been working on it. Yesterday I glued the pages back in the cover. The pages are all separate. The mold is pretty much gone. (Obadiah still needs some work.) It looks pretty bad but it didn’t look that good before the flood. (I like to say that it was held together by liturgical duct tape.) It is getting closer to being able to be presented into polite company. I’ve heard it all before, “They make new Bibles you know.” “They can rebind those.” Yes, Yes, I know. And please don’t buy me no new Bible. There are some things that are better old, a good wine, a good woman and a good book. In this case, the good book. Call me stubborn.

But far more important than the old book, are the words that are written in the old book. When we are driven away from church, when our lives are in turmoil, when we no longer have any habits, there is a danger that we loose the “habit” of God’s word. At least that is what Satan is hoping. He is hoping that because we no longer have a church building that we will learn to stop going. He is hoping that since we no longer have the encouragement of our fellow believers that we will listen to other “encouragement.” He is hoping that because so much of our lives are different that we will also lose our devotion to the Lord and his word. St. Paul reminds Timothy that some old things are better, some old things are worth hanging on to. Remember what your Mama taught you. Remember what your MeeMaw shared with you. Hang on tight to the scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation. There are times when stubborn is good.

News:

1. Good news on the permitting front. The State says that because we are a church we can use volunteer labor and not a licensed contractor.

2. Marv Holtz, the new Builder’s for Christ Czar, went with us to view the church property. Work will begin on the roof and siding of the fellowship hall next week. It looks like new windows and doors are in the offing. Rebuilding committee members take note. (The church council chose a rebuilding committee consisting of Dale Jensen, Bob Heier, Gretchen McKinney, The Builder Czar and me.) Marv Holtz’s phone number is 608-963-1434.

3. If you haven’t put in a request for a FEMA trailer on your property, the sooner the better.

4. Kris’s Krewe will be coming in on Saturday. Monday they will begin work. On Monday a semi of water will be delivered to the church by Stevens transport. If you would like to help unload it, please contact Kris. (The water is something we can use but also something we can offer to our neighbors as they return home.)

5. Reminders: Ladies guild on Saturday, 10 AM, Gretchen’s house. We need you input on picking colors and rearranging the inside of the church and fellowship hall. Choir practice on Sunday at 10:00. Worship at 11:00 at Hall’s.

6. Don’t forget to contact your Pal.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. Philippians 4:18

One nice lady, when she learned that my boat had been stolen during the flood offered to send me a boat. I’m happy to report that the “Borgne Free”* was rescued by the Builders for Christ a couple weeks ago. A tree had fallen on her and she had been vandalized, but she is largely intact. She was found on the neutral ground of Read Blvd. about a mile from my home in New Orleans. The Builders were able to get her back on her trailer again. I was looking at the pictures of that even when I was reminded of something I learned while fishing at the mouth of Bayou Bienvenue** in Lake Borgne. On one calm day we were fishing there and all at once the boat started swaying back and forth, waves from a boat. Naturally I looked up to see the boat that caused the waves but there were no boats anywhere around. Lake Borgne is a big body of water. A boat could have been miles away out in the middle. It could have passed 15 minutes ago and the waves were just getting to us now. We didn’t know what the boat looked like and when it passed or the people who were on it, but we were feeling the affects all this time later.

St. Paul sat in prison. He received an offering from the people of Philippi. He didn’t see when they gave it or who gave it. He didn’t know the circumstances in which they gave it, but now much later he was feeling the good effects of that offering.

Tonight one of the Builders for Christ leaves us. Over the time that he was here, he worked on several projects, gave his time and expertise to help out his fellow Christians, sang in our choir, joined in our fellowship. Now he will go back home. He joins many others who have done the same. Most of you have never met him. You don’t know what he looks like or what exactly he did. And before you get to meet him he will be gone. But you will be feeling his waves for years to come. Sometimes life seems like we are just driving our boat across the lake, trying to get to some destination. But we are leaving a wake, a wake some people will feel for years to come. Someday somebody’s boat will gently sway back and forth. They will look up but they won’t see you. You’ll be long gone. But you made their boat rock.

* Named after Lake Borgne
** The bayou that the British came up to take on the Americans in the Battle of New Orleans in the war of 1812

News:

1. The Builders are repairing the roof on Lee and Gretchen’s house yesterday and today.

2. A group of students from Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN will be coming down to help some of you with your houses. If you have a day off this week, you might consider joining in the “fun.”

3. It looks like cement board will be the replacement for the siding on the fellowship hall. Considering our climate, it might be the perfect thing for us.

4. Worship at 11:00 Sunday, Choir Practice at 10:00

5. Ladies Guild on Saturday, 10 AM, Gretchen’s house.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Matthew 6:3

There they were, young men and women from Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota. They are already going to New Ulm, Minnesota to train to be teachers and pastors; no one could doubt their dedication. (No one goes to New Ulm by choice…. Just kidding.) So why would they come down here to help us? They don’t even know the people whose moldy houses they will be helping to clean up. I guess I could understand why they might come down on a choir tour. They could come to what used to be America’s most interesting city and eat some good food, hear some good music and meet some nice folks. But it is different now. There aren’t many perks to coming to New Orleans these days. What they are in for is a week of hazmet suits, masks, and gloves, sore backs, tired arms and legs and mold. When Carol told someone that we had groups of church members helping out down here, they said, “I didn’t know Lutherans did that kind of thing.” I wish I had been there. I would have said that Lutherans don’t publicize what they do because they don’t want to brag about it. That would spoil it. Lutherans worry about things like that.

Jesus was a good Lutheran. He said, “When you give, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.” If your left hand doesn’t know, then the media won’t either.

So they are here, right hands and left hands. Both of which will be tired and moldy by the end of the week. I don’t want to tell you how nice that they are doing this; I don’t want to spoil it.

News:

1. Horace is still in Houston awaiting cancer surgery. Please pray for him.

2. Beverly Boczon was in church on Sunday for the first time since the hurricane. It was good to see her. She is living in the French Quarter trying to decide whether to rebuild or not.

3. My “hairy” Bible made its first trip back to church today. I think it was happy.

4. Carol and I move into our Camp this week thanks to Builders for Christ and the good people of WELS. It will be nice to have a house without wheels. But I’ll tell you this; this house with wheels has been a wonderful place. Thanks.

5. A group of MLC students is down working on our houses. If you can, come on in and lend a hand.

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles he had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Job 2:11

Can you picture this? College students from around the country dressed in hazmet suits and face masks making a pile of the belongings of people they had just met. Two of them drop some big piece of furniture at the curb and a cloud of mold rises from it. A pretty girl in big yellow boots chipping tile off the floor with a big yellow crowbar. The lady of the house walking out the front door with a precious picture in her hands. A bent over fire hydrant gushing water into the street – a sign of hope. Behind the masks, all the eyes were the same, sad. So we stood with the owners of the house. There are certain things you say, but it doesn’t change what you see before you.

Job really had far worse problems. He even lost loved ones in his disaster. So his three friends decided that he would go and spend some time with him. And they did. What they said wasn’t always the best, sometimes it was the worst. But let’s give them credit for the one thing they did. Job may have been sitting in the dust, but he didn’t have to sit there alone.

Maybe these students didn’t even know the people they were helping. Like me, they didn’t have words that could make it better. But they made sure that in their hour of need, their fellow Christians were not alone. As it turns out, sometimes it is the best thing we can do.

News:

1. The MLC students are down helping out. They went to Port of Call restaurant on their first day and when someone there found out why they had come, they paid their entire bill. Yesterday we moved trash, unloaded a semi of water on the church property and began helping Isons and Greens with their houses. We ate MREs (meals ready to eat) at the entrance of the church. (See below)

Dear Scattered Members of the family:

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6

They were playing cards at the table last night, the Builders for Christ with the students from MLC. And they were laughing. They were laughing that relaxed, care free laughter that fills the room, lights up their faces and makes you want to laugh with them even if you didn’t hear the joke. It was a laughter that seemed to belie what they had been doing all day. All of them had left their homes to come down here to help us recover. The conditions are far from ideal. The work is often messy, dirty and stinky. How could they laugh after spending the day helping their Christian friends in all this destruction? Maybe the answer is found right there.

Sarah must have been one the worlds best “Spin Doctors.” She said the words above when she found out that in her old age she was going to have a son Isaac. But God had given him the name Isaac because both Abraham and Sarah had laughed in unbelief when God told them they were going to have a child. (Isaac means, he laughed) Now it seems like Sarah wants to “spin” the name to mean, “he made me laugh with joy.” Well, I guess you don’t want to give your kid a name that will forever remind you of our lack of faith. Besides, here laughter did change from a laugh of unbelief to a laugh of joy. Of course it was God who changed her laughter.

It is a little hard for us to laugh these days isn’t it? Oh, it isn’t that we don’t laugh because we do. But it is hard to laugh that kind of “care free” laughter because our lives are far from care free. Find someone to help, it might ease your burden. In any event, the Lord changed Sarah’s laughter and I believe that he will change ours too.

1. Talked with Arva on the phone. She is doing fine and sends her greeting to all of you. She says she doesn’t miss work, but she misses her church. We miss her.

2. The MLC students did a number on Green’s and Ison’s houses. They haven’t finished yet, maybe today.

3. The Builders tell me that today they will finish. That means “move in day” for me. I thank them and I thank God for them.

4. Choir practice on Sunday at 10:00. Church at 11:00.

5. More and more people are coming back to work on their houses. It doesn’t look any better, but it is a good sign.

Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Matthew 8:20

I’m happy to report that I have something that Jesus never had, a house, a home. The Builders for Christ have completed my camp in Mississippi and Carol and I have moved in. They spend untold hours getting this place back, after all it took in 20 feet of water. But they have worked their miracle and brought it back to be a wonderful place for us to live. I know that Jesus has provided a place for me in heaven, but I can tell you that it is nice to have a place here on earth too.

A teacher of the law came up to Jesus and said, “I’ll follow you where ever you go.” Jesus wanted to make sure that he understood what that meant, so he tells him “the Son of Man doesn’t even have a home like the birds.” Following Jesus isn’t always comfortable, isn’t always convenient. We live differently. We make different choices. That’s because, in a way we are homeless as we wait for our heavenly home. Many of you have been living without a home here so you know what Jesus meant.

Now it might be easy to say, “Jesus lived without a home so that I could have one.” That isn’t quite it. But it is something like that. “He was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement that brought us peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed.” Is 53. That is the true great exchange. And I guess you could say that he lived without a home here on earth to provide for me a home in heaven. Thank you Jesus! All I can say is that it is wonderful that Jesus and his people have helped me have a place to live after the hurricane destroyed both my homes. I promise that I’ll do all I can to help all of you get to this same point. And I think there are others who are with me on this.

News:

1. The town hall meeting with the mayor said that if we are ready to receive power it will be ready in the East by January. That is good news.

2. Also in the meeting they made it clear that if your house was not substantially destroyed that you could rebuild it and that you could get insurance for the future. That is also good news for us. Also the flood insurance rates are set by the US government and will only go up if all the rates for flood insurance go up.

3. I’ll be putting in a request for electricity in the next week.

4. The Builders for Christ will be starting work on our fellowship hall this week, most of it preliminary.

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character hope. Romans 5:3

Yesterday the Builders for Christ who are down here to help us rebuild, gave my wife a picture with that powerful passage from Romans written on it. At first I didn’t recognize the painting. It was some kind of plant with a brown stalk with green leaves. It looked like bamboo. Bamboo? And then it hit me and when I realized what it was, it brought a lump to my throat. You see on one of the blank walls in our camp in Mississippi, I had asked my daughter Beth to paint a spray of bamboo. I always thought it made the place look tropical. But the painting was on sheetrock and it all had to come out. Lynn, one of the Builders for Christ, had dug through the pile of broken sheet rock and found a piece of it and had it framed with the passage above. Now that our camp has been repaired, that picture will go on the wall as a reminder to us not only of our sufferings but also of our hope.

Look at that passage. Suffering brings out perseverance. The word carries with it the idea of patience but also sticking to something even when it gets difficult. We have been learning that these past months. But perseverance always sounds better than it feels. St. Paul says perseverance produces character. Your character is what you are worth. If, as soon as troubles come up, you run away from it, well you aren’t “worth” very much, because you can’t be counted on. On the other hand if you persevere in the face of adversity then you are a person that can be counted on in good times and in bad – character. And character produces hope, really, expectations. I don’t think that necessarily follows. A person with character might not have hope. But St. Paul is quick to show us how it does happen in God’s people. The next verse says, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Ah, we have hope because we have the Holy Spirit in us. The words that stand out for me in that passage are, “Because God.” All this happens “Because God.” Maybe suffering can produce perseverance and character in an unbeliever, but not hope. Only God gives us hope, good expectations. We know what we have in God’s love. We have forgiveness, life and salvation. No amount of suffering can change that.

That painting will always remind me that no matter how many things change the one thing I have is hope, because God…

News:

1. One group of MLC students leaves tomorrow and another comes in. My neighbor here in Mississippi, when I told him about them said, “I’m so proud of them.” And he doesn’t even know them.

2. It sounds like there won’t be enough Builders for Christ down here to start any serious work until after Christmas. Remember perseverance produces character.

3. Joy moved into her new place yesterday. It is a house with pecan trees in the yard. She is happy.

4. The MLC students have finished Green’s and Ison’s houses and are working on Macklin’s and Prillman’s. One of you asked for the address of the school they go to. It is: Martin Luther College, 1995 Luther Ct., New Ulm, MN 56073-3300

5. Latest New Orleans East news: water is predicted to be potable in two weeks, electricity will be available by January for those homes able to receive it. This is much better news than was earlier presented!

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered members of the Family:

The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

We already know that Jesus didn’t have a house. “Foxes have holes ….but the son of man does not have a place to lay his head.” I guess if you never had a house, you wouldn’t have to worry about losing a house. But let’s just pretend for a minute. Let’s pretend that Jesus did have a house and his house flooded and all its contents were ruined and moldy. I think there would be a lot of us who would be willing to get in there and help. After all he laid down his life for us and now if we had the chance to help him out; we would jump at it.

I thought about that as I stood with the next wave of MLC students who had come down to help clear out our houses. By the end of the week they will have seen things they had never seen before, smelled things they had never smelled before and will have memories, both good and bad to carry with them throughout their lives. And they will be tired. I don’t think they are doing it because they wanted an adventure or a week off of school. They will be disappointed if that is what they are doing. I think they are doing it for Jesus. Jesus says that if we do it for one of his brothers, he accepts that as being done for him. Something to remember when the days get long and the tempers get short. When nothing seems to be working right and there is so little progress in getting back to normal. This week the MLC students will be cleaning out Jesus’ house. What will you do for Jesus today?

1. 45 people in church yesterday. We said prayers for Horace and his cancer operation in Houston. We also heard that Michael is getting his job back and Miss Kivi is going to Idaho for a month.

2. The Builders for Christ have looked over our project and it is a go. In the meantime an electrical contractor will be coming down to take a look at what we will need in that regard. They will also be sending a guy to help us order building materials. They will begin work in earnest in January.

3. Carol and I went down to city hall seeking more permit information. Nothing yet.

4. Some nice WELS people sent us some quilts. If you didn’t pick one up at Linda’s, please do so.

5. We are trying to put together a Krewe to help Wanda with her house for the 21st. If you can help let me know.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

(The Lord) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:5

I didn’t pray before going to sleep last night. This is now the second day in a row. It isn’t that I didn’t want to pray; it is just that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The days seem to start early and end late. Now don’t think, “He’s accomplishing so many great things.” That’s not happening, most of you know what is going on. Doing just the simplest thing takes longer and requires more work than ever. And then there are the new problems that we have never faced before, dealing with the government, trying to make things work in a broken world.

Psalm 103 is one of those real beauties. Read it if you haven’t for awhile. David talks about all that the Lord has done for us: forgives us, redeems us, crowns us with love and compassion. (A nice crown to wear) And then he says that the Lord “satisfies our desires with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” I’m not sure about the imagery here. Do eagles have their youth renewed? Its poetry and we certainly get the idea. An eagle flies high, fast and free. The idea of being lifted on eagle’s wings is common in the Bible. So I suppose you feel like a high flying eagle when your “youth is restored.” I think we all could use a little of that. How do we get it? Well, David says that we get it when God fills our desires with good things. We know what our desires are. They may be different and a lot simpler than they were three months ago but we know what they are. At least we think we do. But maybe we need to look a little closer. For example: One of my “desires” is that we all are living back in our community and worshipping together in our church. But as I think about it, my real desire is that we all grow closer to the Lord and grow closer to each other. It is possible that that is happening now even more than before? Which desire do you think God is going to satisfy with good things, the perceived one or the real one? Well, He’s God who can do all things, I’m holding out for both. I’m sure you all join with me in needing a little “youth renewal.”

News:

1. Been trying to call Horace to find out what happened with his operation. Can’t get through. If any of you Houston members can find out, give me a call.

2. Thanks to those who took in workers in the last week and this week. Halls, Walkers, Filipowiczes, Beth, McKinneys, Heiers, Greenlees and Dietrichs.

3. The Builders are getting some of the preliminaries done at the church and the MLC students are working on houses. I saw a sign that said, “House gutting, $3.00 a square foot. Do the math. You can see the value of the service they are performing."

4. Robin and Tianna are going back to school. Mom and daughter students. Who will get the best report card?

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over the one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Matthew 15:3-7 [sic - Webmaster]

WE FOUND CONNIENAICE! Those of you who have been reading these updates know that she was one of the few left of the family that we have not located. Carol came up with the idea of mailing a letter to their old addresses in hopes that they would be forwarded to where they are now. It worked and last night she called us. She is doing fine in Katy, Texas, living with her relatives. Christien is fine too. It made me think of the passage above.

Jesus was being criticized for hanging around with “Sinners.” The Pharisees thought that “Good” people should hang around with other “Good” people, like themselves, I suppose. Jesus is explaining what his purpose was and is, to bring sinners to repentance. Non-sinners need not apply. So each time a sinner repents there is rejoicing in heaven, more rejoicing than over those who have already repented. Those who have repented feel the same way, they rejoice more over the sinner that repents too. This fact helps us to see the purpose of the church.

Now I’m not saying that Connienaice was lost in the sense that Jesus talks about being a lost sheep. Jesus found her a long time ago. (Ask her about it, she’ll tell you.) But the “rejoicing” thing is the same. I guess we should be rejoicing just as much over the old found members as much as the new found members, but we don’t. Besides you were rejoiced over when you were found. (Enough of that, let me get back to my point.) Some might wonder how a church can be a church without a building, without a community, with its members scattered all around the country, going to different churches. Well keep in mind Jesus purpose and the purpose of the church, to bring the one lost sheep to repentance. We can still do that. We can still do the one thing that churches are supposed to do, the one thing that makes a church a church. And maybe now we have a whole new set of lost sheep around us. The 100 of us might have even more opportunities to find the lost sheep.

1. Found Connienaice Coleman. She escaped the storm and headed for Katy Texas where she is living with relatives. Christien is enjoying school there. She can’t wait to come back. She says she misses ya’ll and the church. 1114 Copper Creek Dr. Katy, Tx 77450 Phone 281-702-3446. She asks for our prayers since she is having surgery on her ear on Thursday.

2. George Armstrong called. They have identified Lydia’s body, but are still not ready to release it to him. (Something about proving the body belongs to him). He is planning a memorial.

3. Do any of you have pictures of our Sunday School children, or the VBS children. I’ve had several requests but I’ve lost all mine. Digital copies would be best, then I can send them along on e-mail. If you have hard copies that I could borrow, I’ll scan them.

4. Thanksgiving dinner after church on Sunday. The Spice boys are making the turkey but you can bring something to share.

5. Haven’t been able to get through to Horace to find out how his operation went. I’ll keep trying.

6. About a week and a half ago Steven's transport sent a semi load of water that we unloaded on the church parking lot. Since there is no drinking water around it has been a blessing to us but also to those coming back to work on their houses.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

I was talking to one of the members of the family yesterday. I asked him how he was doing and he said, “Well, I guess it is post traumatic stress disorder. But they say this whole city is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.” This is what the dictionary says about it. “A psychological condition that may affect people who have suffered severe emotional trauma, for example, combat, crime, or natural disaster, and may cause sleep disturbances, flashbacks, anxiety, tiredness, and depression.” I think they used to call it shell shocked. Remember all those movies about the Vietnam Veteran who had problems? I guess that was PTSD. From talking with many of you, I hear you express some of those symptoms. Now I don’t want you to be thinking, “Oh no, I’ve got this terrible disease that there is no cure for.” But I also don’t want you to just dismiss the feelings either. Something very traumatic has happened to you and it will affect you. They say this was the largest disaster our country has ever had.

Of course the biggest disaster this world has ever had was when Adam and Eve plunged the whole human race into sin. That act of disobedience separated the creation from the creator and made us enemies of God. We have been suffering the affects ever since. Talk about post traumatic stress disorder.... The Lord’s solution was to send his son, Jesus. If you are tired of your sins and living in a sinful world you know where to go. Jesus says, “Come to me, I will give you rest.” Jesus is the one place we can go and always find rest. He doesn’t demand from us. He gives to us. He is the solution to the world’s big PTSD. Do you think he might be the solution to our current PTSD?

News:

1. Chris Driesbach has been looking into a keyboard for our worship. I think he will be testing one out on Sunday. As most of you know, Chris is planning to leave us. We will miss him and not just his talent either. So we need to plan to provide music in a different way.

2. We are in search of an electrician with an Orleans Parish license. Hopefully one that we can hire to provide us with the necessary permits and inspect the work that will be done on the church. We just discovered that you have to be a licensed electrician somewhere else for 5 years and bring documentation with you to be approved by Orleans Parish or take the Orleans Parish test. (Do you think it has something to do with money?)

3. Thanksgiving service will be Sunday, 11:00 AM. Following service, we will have Thanksgiving Dinner. Turkeys and dressing are provided; bring a dish to share.

Be strong in the Lord

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2: 4-5

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a church in Texas which wanted to know if we were planning on rebuilding our church. They said that they were interested in helping if we were going to rebuild. That isn’t unusual. What is unusual is that this church belongs to a different Lutheran synod. They had heard about us from one of the MLC students who has come down here to help us work on our houses. It reminded me again of how our church is built.

St. Peter is encouraging his readers to grow up, become strong in the faith, to get rid of the things in our lives that don’t belong there. And then he reminds us of what we are and where we are. Jesus is the original Stone upon which the church is build. His life and death build the foundation of the church. Without Jesus sacrifice we wouldn’t have our church at all. Now that the Holy Spirit has brought us to faith, we are added to the church like bricks. But we are living bricks. All true believers make up “our church.” That helps us to understand a couple of things. First of all it helps us to understand why people we have never met care about us; they are bricks in the same church. It also helps us understand that our church situation hasn’t really changed just because we don’t have a church to worship in at this time. We are still living stones in “our church.” What do we do as living stones in “our church?” We offer spiritual sacrifices to God. The words you say and don’t say, the things you do and don’t do are offerings you make to God. “Our church” is pretty indestructible, the Father watching over it, built by the Holy Spirit upon the corner Stone, Jesus. The gates of hell cannot overcome “our church” much less a little hurricane. I hope you have never stopped worshipping in “our church.”

News:

1. Today marks the last day for this latest group of MLC students. Please remember them in your prayers, thank the Lord for them and thank them for their spiritual sacrifices as living stones in “our church.”

2. Rumor has it that the Home Depot in our neighborhood will be opening on generator power. If you go back there, you will see a lot more activity. Here in Waveland we went to Wal Mart yesterday ….in a tent…. set up on their parking lot.

3. Randy Hall is going to see if he can get our electrical permit situation straightened out. If he can, that will be a big help to all of us.

4. I’ve been having some trouble with these e-mails getting sent. A combination of AOL and cell phone problems. Let me know if you don’t get this. (?)

5. Still missing: Ruth Young

6. Arva Moore called to say how much she appreciated the MLC student's work on her house. She was truly overwhelmed by their sacrifice.

Be strong in the Lord

Dear Scattered Members of the Family

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-18

Yesterday was our celebration of Thanksgiving, at least in church. I preached on the above words. Those were some of the first words I wrote to you back in the early days after the hurricane. At the same time I had been asked to write an article for the Forward in Christ Magazine with the topic, “How will the members of Crown of Life Celebrate thanksgiving this year.” In my mind this passage and our Thanksgiving are somehow connected.

Habakkuk didn't have much to be thankful for, at least on the surface. The people of Judah had drifted away from the Lord. They were no longer listening to the prophets. And then there were powerful nations threatening to take over their little country. In a way, he is the “Poster Child” for being thankful and joyful in the face of loss.

We know better now than in those early days, just how “empty the sheep pens” are and how few “grapes are on the vine.” It is better than not knowing. Now we know where we stand. Now we know what to pray for. Now we can address the idea of Thanksgiving. One of the biggest problems with not being thankful is that people don’t know the truth of what they have to be thankful for. They don’t see the blessings of God in their lives. They look at all their stuff and they don't see the finger prints of God all over it. They look at their lives that they have put in order and think that it is normal, to be expected. Of course I'm hoping that we can be more thankful for a few sheep than we ever were with many. I'm hoping that we will be looking more to our Lord in our “chaotic” lives than we ever were in our “ordered” lives. I'm hoping that we can be like Habakkuk and look past the ugly to the absolute beauty that has always been ours, our God, our Savior. We might have a better chance this thanksgiving than any in the past.

News:

1. Connienaice and Christien have found our church in Katy TX. and are enjoying it.

2. The Jeffersons are located in Mobile now.

3. No word on Horace, can’t get through.

4. Randy Baker, one of the Builders has worked up some design changes in the fellowship hall and parsonage. The rebuilding committee was impressed. All the buildings should look better and work better.

5. Today we are heading down to gut Wanda’s house. If you would like to help, meet at the church at 10:00 AM. The house is located at 4827 Sierra Madre Dr. MREs are on the menu for lunch.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family,

Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. Job 5:2 Eliphaz

Yesterday Carol and I helped Wanda gut her house. Linda took off from work and came from Baton Rouge to swing a hammer and shovel sheet rock. About the only good thing about that job is that it is like mowing the grass, at least you can see that you have made some progress. As we were taking our lunch el fresco, (sitting on the front porch eating MREs – I can recommend the meat loaf with macaroni and cheese) I noticed that two doors down the house had not received any flooding at all. It is easy to tell because half the grass was growing on their front yard. And I think I felt envy. Just two doors down and just another foot of elevation and they could just move back in their house today, if they had electricity. Wanda lost most of her possessions and her house was in disarray and this person lost nothing. Why couldn’t Wanda have been “this person?” Come to think of it, why couldn’t I have been “this person?” Envy.

You know the story of Job and his loss and suffering. The above words where spoken by one of his “friends,” Eliphaz. I’m always a little leery about quoting the words of these Characters who come to visit Job. They are wrong just enough to make you wonder if they are ever right. But I found another passage that says about the same thing in Proverbs, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Pr 14:30 So Eliphaz is giving good advice.

So where does envy come from? I guess it comes from the same place gossip does. You know how gossip makes you feel better, not because you ARE better but because it makes someone else seem worse. Envy comes from same place as schadenfruede. (Dudley Rhoda, my old German teacher would be happy to see me use a German word even if it is spelled wrong.) Why do you think people are happy to watch disasters? The newscasters spent far more time showing the looting and complaining in New Orleans after the hurricane than the doctors who stayed with their patients and the sportsmen who brought in their boats to rescue people off the roofs. That is because there is a part of us that rejoices in the suffering of others. “See how much better off I am than those poor slobs.” It comes from the same place as, “It annoys me that my house flooded and yours didn’t.” That place is our sinful heart. As long as I’m envious it keeps me from rejoicing in what God has given me, which is considerable. As long as I am envious it keeps me from moving on with my life. I just sit there as my “bones rot.”

The cure? Repentance always works. You can also try this – look at Jesus. Why is it that Jesus never felt envy? He had nothing: no wife, children, house, bank account, 401K etc. He certainly had plenty of reason to be envious. Maybe it was because he saw his life as bigger and more important than that. Maybe it was because he was too busy giving his life a ransom for many to be worried about if someone had more. Can we learn something here? Besides, when you are looking at Jesus envy leaves the room.

News:

1. No choir practice Sunday. Chris and half our choir won’t be able to be there. Pass it on.

2. The Builders are pressure washing our buildings. They say it helps.

3. Randy Hall made a visit to City Hall (no relation). He says that it looks good for getting a city electrical license. It sounds like an odd thing to pray about, but I’ve prayed for a cow, a cat and a kite and this is at least as important as that. So pray for it.

4. Wanda says “hi” and is planning to return.

5. Kirby and Christine had a new baby, Kaden. Keep them in your prayers. Congratulations to Mee Maw Patience.

Be strong in the Lord

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge. Proverbs 14:32

About a week ago, I heard Pat Robertson say something wrong. Of course this isn’t really surprising since Pat Roberson often says wrong things. What is annoying about it is that so many people think of him as the voice of Bible believing people. What he said this time was that since some city had voted down teaching intelligent design in their public schools that if some calamity came upon the city, they shouldn’t be surprised. (Intelligent design says that some kind of being made the world; that it didn’t come out of nothing like evolution says.) Of course I think they should teach Intelligent Design in the science classes because it is as good a science as evolution is. But it is the last part that bothered me. There is an implication here that when calamity comes it must be God punishing a city because they have done something wrong. There is plenty of evidence that God sometimes does that. Sodom and Gomorrah are good examples. But God also brings calamity as a blessing to his people. When calamity came upon Jericho and the walls fell down it certainly seemed like a bad thing to the people inside the walls but it was a great blessing to God’s people outside the walls.

The reason that what Pat Robertson said annoys me is that there are people who say that what happened to us in this hurricane was God punishing us for being wicked. Now don’t misunderstand, if you are looking for wicked things, New Orleans had plenty of them. And the fact is if God were going to punish us for our sins He would have to give us a lot worse than a hurricane. But unless God tells us why He brings calamity on any group of people we ought to keep our mouths shut about it.

There is one thing we know for certain, this did not happen in order to harm us. The passage above is a reminder that calamity will fall upon God’s people just like anyone else. It is all part of living in a world that is no longer “God’s World.” But there is a big difference, we have someplace to run in calamity and they don’t. The Lord has said, “When calamity comes, run to me.” I pray you have arrived safely.

News:

1. We continue to get “Get Well” cards from people around the country. They continue to pray for all of us. Compelled by the love of Christ.

2. Talked to Joy yesterday. They are happy to be in their new place, but unfortunately the kids have to change schools again. This must be the 5th time now.

3. Yesterday when we were driving around our New Orleans East Neighborhood we noticed city provided porta potties set up on corners. I guess they really want us to come back. Now ours won’t be the “onliest” one in the area.

4. No Choir Practice Sunday. Worship service at 11:00 AM

Happy Thanksgiving

Be strong in the Lord

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22

Yesterday we had our customary Thanksgiving Dinner. There was a turkey. We have cooked it many different ways but we always had a turkey. We also had the mashed potatoes with that wonderful turkey gravy (my favorite part), cranberries, a choice of three home made pies with ice cream, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter. We also had a ham for good measure. As long as I can remember this is what we had for Thanksgiving. I had a chance to talk to some of you on the phone and you had spent the whole day before getting ready to eat. You had a standard menu just like I do. Why not have something different this year? Why not hamburgers at McDonalds or pizza for Thanksgiving?

God didn’t have to say it but he did. After he had destroyed the earth with a flood he knew that we would always wonder if that could happen again. We would look at our world and conclude that it was as wicked as ever and begin to think, “Is it time for the Lord to flood the earth again?” Life has enough uncertainties and God didn’t want his people to live under the fear of global disaster. So he promised that it would never happen again. He not only promised that he wouldn’t destroy the earth but that he wouldn’t let anyone else do it either. There may be nuclear weapons but they won’t destroy the earth, “Seedtime and Harvest.” There may be global warming or as it was 30 years ago, global cooling but it will not destroy the earth, “Cold and heat.” There may be bird flu, or West Nile virus but they won’t kill all the people, “Summer and Winter, Day and Night.” Because God has promised that these things will remain intact until he says so. They will “Never cease.”

In a year when so much of what we know of has changed we need to know that there will be “Seedtime and Harvest.” Maybe not this year but next year. So we make the same thanksgiving dinner we have had for years even if we have to make it on a hotel hot plate, because we want some things to be the same. We need some things to be the same. God made us so he knows how we are. He made sure that we always know that his love will never leave us. And even in this sinful world the Lord steps up and tells us that he will make sure that some things will never change. So there is a good chance that if the world endures that long, we will be gathered next thanksgiving at our own homes, around our own tables and eat our traditional thanksgiving meal. Something else to be thankful for.

News:

1. Horace called. He is doing much better. They think they have gotten all the cancer. He will find out this weekend when he can come home. Our prayers were answered. Thank you Lord.

2. Connienaice called to say that her ear problems are still a mystery but she can see the hand of God working things out in her life. Thank you Lord.

3. Yesterday Seth and I canoed up the bayou and saw one of the biggest alligators I have ever seen sunning himself on the bank. Thank you Lord.

4. Rebuilding Committee Meeting after church on Sunday. No Choir practice.

Be strong in the Lord

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. Exodus 4:12

It seemed like she was surprised herself. One of newest members of the Family was talking about something that happened at Wal Mart. She was approaching the checkout counter and a young mother was there with her baby and a basket full of things, and she was crying. “I lost my wallet and it was my last paycheck.” (There are a lot of people cashing their last paychecks since the storm took their jobs.) “Someone must have stolen it; I had it in my purse right there.” Kathy said she didn’t know why but she just knew that that lady had not lost her wallet. She prayed with her that the Lord would help them find it. Then they looked through the buggy and there it was way on the bottom. She was so happy and began to tell Kathy her whole life story. What surprised Kathy was not that they found the money but that she would get involved. “I don’t do things like that,” she said.

Moses didn’t do things like that either. He had run away from Egypt because he was afraid. Now God was sending him back to “let my people go.” Moses had been herding sheep for about 40 years. Eloquence is not needed, at least with any sheep I’ve ever known. But God was placing Moses in a new place and he promises to give him the words to say when the time came.

We have all been thrust into new places these days. We are meeting people we would never have met. We are doing things we never would have tried. The Lord calls that scattering his seed. 2 Corinthians 9:9ff He probably does that a lot more than we realize. He uses all kinds of things to get his people into the kinds of places they are needed. If you are attentive you might see many opportunities to do things you have never done before. God is scattering his seed.

News:

1. Jerry Zimpleman, who was down here in one of the initial waves of house gutters, is coming back this week to see if there is more he can do. This time not to tear down but to build up.

2. We received more “Get Well” cards and gifts this week from Sunday Schools and individuals. There are a lot of people holding you in their prayers. We ought to be encouraged since we know who is listening to those prayers.

3. The Rebuilding Committee met on Sunday. Plans are moving forward using the blueprints that Randy sent to us from California. It looks like there will be some interesting changes to our buildings. Meeting the new codes might be our biggest challenge. There is a high level of confidence that we can eradicate the mold in the buildings.

4. Right now the Builders are shooting for the middle of January to begin the work in earnest.

5. It is down to city hall for me today. More permit searches. I thought of cleaning out one of those taped up refrigerators before I go and then sit in the permit office. That might motivate them to help me.

6. Horace called from the Hospital on Sunday. He is doing good. God has heard our prayers.

7. Ms. Kivi is safe and sound in Idaho.

8. Ladies Guild, Saturday, 10 AM, Beth’s house in Covington, 710 S. Massachusetts St. If you need directions call Gretchen, Beth or Carol.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Matthew 18:6

Last week we got a one of those “Get Well Soon” cards from a Sunday school. It said that they were praying for us and they all signed their names. There was a “Justin” a couple “Heathers,” a “Kayla” and a “Scott” with a very small o. Of course this wasn’t the first such card we have received from Sunday Schools but it made me wonder, “Do the prayers of these “little ones” carry more weight with God?

Jesus stood a young child among his disciples and told them that they would have to become like this child. He then warns them that if anyone causes one of these little ones to sin that he is in big trouble with the Lord. What God plans to do to such a one is so bad that he doesn’t even tell us what it is. He just says that drowning himself in the middle of the ocean would be more fun. Does God have a special place in his heart for little ones? Maybe it’s their vulnerability? Maybe it’s their relative “innocence” as compared with us at least. We do know that he made a special provision to bring them into his kingdom, called Baptism. So if you have a group of “little ones who believe in Him” praying for us, do you think it somehow means more to God? I don’t know. All I know is if I had a Sunday School full of Heathers and Kaylas and Scotts with a small o, and they asked me for something, I’d have a hard time saying, “No.”

1. Spent a lovely day at City Hall yesterday. Long lines full of frustrated people trying to figure out how to “come back.” The good news - we left clutching in our hands our illusive building permit for the church and fellowship hall. They will also be delivering the building permit for the parsonage in a few days. How we got that taught us something we all need to know. I’ll write more at the end.

2. Ladies Guild on Saturday at 10:00 AM at Dr. Beth’s. Gretchen is bringing the plans for the fellowship hall for your input.

3. Connienaice called. She is hoping to join us for Christmas.

4. The Jeffersons are attending the WELS church in Mobile. Glad they are settling in.

5. Randy Hall is working hard to get an electrical license for New Orleans. Say a prayer for his success.

6. Choir practice on Sunday at 10:00. Worship at 11:00

7. The council decided that the gifts the church is receiving will be used 70% for rebuilding the church and 30% for helping our members. This may be adjusted later. The rebuilding has started and some members are being helped. Thanks to those who gave. If any of you need assistance please let me know.

8. The Crown of Life Diaspora will now be sent out by a list server set up by Michael Eaton from California and our WELS guys. I was having trouble because AOL thought I was a spammer. We hope this works. Thanks Mr. Spriggs, Duran and Eaton

Be strong in the Lord
Pastor

More permit information.

Go on the website www.cityofno.com and go to the area that says something like, view your damage assessment. After the disclaimer page, put in your address and see what they say. Keep in mind that no one has looked at your house, they are only slapping an assumed damage assessment on your house based upon the area in which you live. If it is over 50%, and most are, then you will be told that you have to raise your house to new levels. If you want to rebuild you should take pictures inside and outside. Your goal is to prove that you received less than 50% damage and then you can rebuild without raising. Take your pictures down to city hall and get in the line to meet with the inspectors. Be prepared to minimize the damage. (I think they really want you to be able to prove it and getting it approved isn’t hard, I think.) They will ask you to fill out an easy form. If you can convince them, then you can get a building permit and rebuild without raising your house.

If your assessment is under 50% you can go ahead and get a building permit. Declare yourself to be the contractor and then you can hire anyone you want. I think you can even do this on line, but I’ve not done it. You will also have to pay a fee based upon the cost of renovations. It is $50.00 plus $5.00 per thousand. So if you say that the renovations will cost $50,000 your permit fee will be $300.00. They take checks.

Not all addresses are in the system. So to find out yours, you might have to put in a neighbor’s address.

Here are some we found. They may be your address or a neighbor’s if yours wasn’t there.

4518 Longfellow Dr. 51%
7581 Branch Dr. 51%
7330 Northgate Dr. 51%
4827 Sierra Madre Dr. 52%
7740 Pebble Dr. 28%
7921 Pebble Dr. 28%
7711 Wave Dr. 27%
4764 Eastern St. 52%
23 Marywood Ct. 52%

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes" says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them. Rev. 14:13

It is with tears that I write to you today, for the Lord has taken our sister, my friend, to her eternal rest. Joy Feast passed away yesterday. I remember when we met. I taught her the Bible and she taught me how to make greens and crawfish pie. I'll miss her gentle spirit, her amazing optomism in the face of difficulties. I'll miss her honest interest in Bible Study.

I don't understand these things. Will those three young sons of hers really be loved better by someone else?

I'm happy for her though. As the passage says above, since the victory of the Lamb, Jesus, all who die in the Lord will be blessed. They will rest from their labor. The Lord knows that all this moving around to 5 different places in 3 months with those kids was a "labor." Today she rests from her labor. She is the first of the Diaspora to make it home. I'm happy that today she is blessed. I'm still sad. Oh, Lord, I'm sad.

News:

Joy Feast passed away of unknown causes yesterday. As of yet there are no funeral plans. she was staying in Warren Robins GA. She is survived by 4 children, Tanner, Jordan, Elijah and Zack. No word on what will happen with the three minor children.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

They will be called the Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, The City No Longer Deserted. Isaiah 62:12

Britt Hume was in the Lower 9th Ward for his broadcast last night. He was shocked by what everyone is shocked by, how deserted the city is. If you go down to the French Quarter and the CBD the place is jumping. But you come out to our neighborhoods and no one is living there. There has been considerable change from when we first started going in. On our first trips we were about the only people, aside from the soldiers, on the streets. Now there is traffic again, people on almost every block, but still no one living there. Mile after mile of empty houses, no people.

The Lord is telling the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah that because he is sending the Savior to them, they would get some new names: Beulah, which means married. (Marriage used to be considered a good thing.) Hephzibah, means something like delightful. And in the reading above Loneezaba. You can see why the name didn’t catch on. Who wants to call their little baby Loneezaba? But I would have thought the same thing about Beulah. The Lord is telling the people of Israel that because he is sending Jesus, the Savior, they will never be called deserted.

In the next few months a lot of people will be coming back to live in our city. I hope all of you are among them. Even though the city may look deserted, we know that our God has not deserted us. We still have his love and forgiveness, we still have eternal life and we have all seen the hand of God in our lives in ways we have not seen it before. We know we have the name Loneezaba. Maybe some day we can change the name of the city from New Orleans to Loneezaba. (Well, maybe not.)

News:

1. Yesterday the Jeffersons met with Jerry Zimplemann. He is a retired contractor who is putting together teams of construction workers who will come down and renovate our houses basically for the cost of materials. These are our fellow Lutherans who are going to donate their time and labor to get us back in our houses. If you are interested let me know. This is a good deal friends.

2. We have been having some trouble with our list server, the thing that sends out these e-mail Diaspora letters. AOL didn’t like it when my list got too big. They kept accusing me of spam. This is supposed to make it possible to send to all ya’ll. A person can get on the list by going to this web site http://www.wels.net/mailman/listinfo/diaspora and signing up. One of the things you should understand is that if you write back to me with that address you will be sending it to everyone on the list. (I think) If you just want to write to me address it to ecadave@aol.com

3. Plans for Joy’s funeral are under way. It will probably be next week Thursday or Friday in Warren Robins, GA. Since Joy and her family were all chased by the hurricane, they asked us if we could help with the funeral expenses. Churches and individuals have given us money to help out our members in this time. I think this would be a good use for it. I’ll be discussing it with the church council.

4. I’m attaching the note (below) that I wrote about the building permits in case some of you missed it.

5. Choir practice 10:00 AM Sunday Worship 11:00 AM Choir members, can we sing for Trinity’s Christmas party? December 11th in the evening?

Be strong in the Lord:
Pastor

More permit information.

Go on the website www.cityofno.com and go to the area that says something like, view your damage assessment. After the disclaimer page, put in your address and see what they say. Keep in mind that no one has looked at your house, they are only slapping an assumed damage assessment on your house based upon the area in which you live. If it is over 50%, and most are, then you will be told that you have to raise your house to new levels. If you want to rebuild you should take pictures inside and outside. Your goal is to prove that you received less than 50% damage and then you can rebuild without raising. Take your pictures down to city hall and get in the line to meet with the inspectors. Be prepared to minimize the damage. (I think they really want you to be able to prove it and getting it approved isn’t hard, I think.) They will ask you to fill out an easy form. If you can convince them, then you can get a building permit and rebuild without raising your house.

If your assessment is under 50% you can go ahead and get a building permit. Declare yourself to be the contractor and then you can hire anyone you want. I think you can even do this on line, but I’ve not done it. You will also have to pay a fee based upon the cost of renovations. It is $50.00 plus $5.00 per thousand. So if you say that the renovations will cost $50,000 your permit fee will be $300.00. They take checks.

Not all addresses are in the system. So to find out yours, you might have to put in a neighbor’s address.

Here are some we found. They may be your address or a neighbor’s if yours wasn’t there.

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

"Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

Yesterday I heard an interview with a lady from the Lower 9th Ward. She was looking at her dilapidated house and saying, “This is where we used to come together for Christmas all these years. This year we won’t be able to do that. I guess we will have to call each other.” I guess most of us know what she is talking about. Somehow celebrating Christmas in a particular place seems to be part of the traditions of Christmas. Can it be the same in a far away city in an apartment or FEMA trailer?

It was an important day. Jesus and his disciples had stopped in for a visit. (I’ll bet he didn’t call first.) You couldn’t send out for pizza in those days so there was a lot of preparation. Good hospitality was as important there as it is here. If it were going to be a good visit, things had to get done. Martha centered her attention on the physical, Mary on the spiritual. Mary is credited with finding the “one thing needed.” Mary understood that Jesus didn’t come here to eat nice meals and enjoy hospitality. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to bring a message of Salvation to the world. Mary got it. It would have been a good day for her, even if she didn’t get to eat a nice meal.

Growing up on the farm, always snow on the ground, cold days and snow falling was the way I once celebrated Christmas and thought that was the only way to do it. That is the way it is. We have all enjoyed Christmas so much in the past that we don’t want to change the formula. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But if you think about it, as much as we like to think it is the same, it is constantly changing. From a child to an adult, with a wife and then with children, in Illinois, Africa, New Orleans. And ya’ll have experienced those same kind of changes. But I can tell you that there was not a “weak Christmas” among them. That is because the important part of Christmas was, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.” The spiritual part of Christmas was what made it good. That was always the same. And it will always remain the same. This year it won’t be in our house. But I know it will be just as good.

News:

1. Permit update. Seth went in to contest the 51% damage on his house with pictures. They said it looked good but they have to send the pictures to FEMA people in California and it will take two weeks before they write back to let him know he is approved. Once he gets that approval, he can get a building permit. So, if you are one who has to go this route, think of the delay. Also consider the mail??

2. No new information on Joy and the Funeral.

3. Horace called from the Hospital in Houston. He was supposed to get out of the hospital yesterday. All reports are good. He will still have to stay around awhile for checkups. He still has his job and is on medical leave. We thank God for hearing our prayers.

4. Ladies Guild meets tomorrow at Beth’s at 10:00AM.

5. Marywood Court Subdivision Homeowners Association will be meeting on Saturday at the church. I guess we’ll stand around outside. I’ll go to represent us.

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, and upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Titus 2:11-13

It was another of those odd pictures that you see in the midst of a disaster. I had just gone into the church. The Marywood Court neighborhood was meeting at the church. More than ever the streets are lined with the debris from people’s homes. All the things that they had carefully picked and carefully placed in their homes, now just thrown on a heap on the side of the road. The grass still hasn’t come back yet. There are little signs of green but as you know, our grass just waits for one good reason to go dormant in the winter, so being covered with water for a couple weeks qualified. So things are pretty brown and dead looking. Then I turned into the churchyard and there in our half moon garden in front of the church were flowers and plants growing. It looked so odd and out of place, and sooo good. Some of our volunteers who have come down to help us out, decided it would look nice for our neighbors when they came in to see something that looked like we were coming back.

St. Paul tell Titus that Jesus came to redeem us from this wicked world and set us aside to be his very own people. And the thing that makes us stand out from this world is that we are eager to do what is good. How odd it is, in a world that is often so eager to do bad, to see someone who is eager to do good. Notice he doesn’t say, “They do good.” He says, “They are EAGER to do good.” You can shame people into doing good, you can force them to do good or bother them until they do good. But these are people who can’t wait to do a good thing. That is one of the reasons that Jesus died to redeem us. That is the thing that separates us from the world around us. You can be a flower on a messy street.

News:

1. This morning Carol and I went down to meet the new group of Faith in Action people. Once again they are from all over the country and they are helping people gut houses. Our own Cheryl came down from Baton Rouge to lend a hand. Flowers all.
2. Joy Feast will be buried on Friday in Macon, GA. Carol and I will be heading out there on Thursday. Tanner is doing pretty good. Jordan will be staying with his Uncle and Elijah and Zack will be living with Robyn. Crown of Life is helping Tanner with the funeral. We are using some of the money sent by our brothers and sisters from around the country.
3. Congregational meeting after church on Sunday.
4. Choir practice at 10:00, Service at 11:00. We all have been invited to Trinity’s Christmas dinner at 5:00 PM on Sunday. Our choir will sing.
5. Ladies Christmas party December 17th at Ramona’s house. Noon.

Dear Scattered Members of the family:

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give Careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. “You expected much, but see it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains in ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.” Haggai 1:7-9

The latest word is that a larger contingent of Builders for Christ will be coming down in the middle of January to begin the rebuilding process in earnest. Right now there are several families here working on the preliminaries, doing what can be done before we get electricity and while we try to figure out what we need to do. They are ordering and buying materials and getting ready. If things go according to plan we might have the first renovated property in the whole area. But it’s not easy pushing the envelope, being the first. Maybe we have gone too fast. It would be easier if we waited awhile - let things fall in place first.

God had allowed the people of Israel to go back home from captivity to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Of course they all had to build their own homes and start farming again, get their lives in order. It sounds like they had done at least some of that, but they kept saying, “It’s not time to rebuild the house of God, yet.” (Verse 2) Well, God wasn’t real happy about that. They were all so interested in getting their own lives in order, their own houses built that they didn’t have time to get God’s house built. They had their priorities mixed up.

I’m not sure how this all applies to us, the circumstances are so much different. But it does help us to keep our perspective in place. I don’t think we can be accused of dawdling with the construction of the church. The church reconstruction is actually ahead of all our homes’ reconstruction. But there is a caution here. No one would fault us for focussing our lives on getting our lives back in order. (As a matter of fact, I think that most of would like NOT to think about that for awhile.) But in the process we may get so wrapped up in our lives that we forget about getting wrapped up with our Savior. It is clear that it doesn’t matter how much you have. If you have a lot of things you can spend your life “playing” with them. If you don’t have anything, you can spend your life focussed on what you don’t have. Let’s not forget that whether we have a lot or little we don’t forget to give the Lord the position he deserves, first.

News:
1. Kay Malenica has been moved to a nursing home in Harvey. She’s getting closer to home.
2. Joy’s funeral is still on at 1:00 PM Friday in Macon, GA.
3. The Faith in Action group received their much sought after “MOLD KREWE” certificate. They will be continuing their work on Ellsworth’s house today. For one of them, Vanessa, this is her second trip.
4. Congregational Meeting after church next Sunday. Worship 11:00 Choir 10:00
5. Trinity, Abita Springs Christmas dinner and party 5:00 PM on Sunday at the town Hall. We are set to sing first thing. (Given our record on punctuality that might have been a mistake.)

Be strong in the Lord:

Dear Scattered Members of the Family:

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalm 116:11 [sic - Webmaster]

I talked to Tanner on the phone again today. She is trying to plan the funeral for her mother in Warner Robins, Ga. It isn’t easy; no funeral is. Here you are, grieving the loss of someone you love and you have to decide how much money you want to spend on the funeral. Is your Mother worth flowers? Is she worth an expensive limousine? What kind of a coffin do you want? Do you want one that is cheap? What if you have no money at all? She is worth every limousine in the world. She is more valuable to you than all the flowers in the world. If you owned every limousine you would trade them all to have her back with you. But she is gone and none of these things will ever fill the emptiness you feel.

Normally we think of life as being precious. People even say that as long as there is life there is hope. We honor life. We fight for life. In our country we are given inalienable rights that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But amazingly, God says that our deaths are precious to him. I guess they are precious for several reasons. First it cost him plenty so that we can die the way we do…. without fear, resting in Jesus’ arms, on our way to glory. They are precious because they are the end and the goal of our lives. We probably spent a few years on shaky ground. We probably almost lost it once or twice. He had to pick us up and carry us a few times, but in our death, we have finally made it. When we die He doesn’t have to worry about us any more. (I know, God doesn’t worry, but you know what I mean.) We’re home.

Our sister, Joy Feast, is home. (Do you know that there is a passage in the Bible that has her name in it?) Let’s keep Tanner in our prayers. What she is going through is bad enough. But facing all this as displaced people makes it even harder. If a death like this happens under normal circumstances, she would have all of us, our church, her family and her home to fall back on. Pray that she discovers that she can still fall back on the Lord, and that is much better.

News:

1. Elaine reports that Eddie will be down to discuss their house project. Kelli got a quilt sent from one of our caring WELS members. Its purple, her favorite color.
2. The Mold Krewe continued their work on Ellsworth’s house.
3. Special Service Sunday, Kathy Jones become a new member of the Family of Crown of Life. Get ready to sing for her.
4. We continue to wait for the official electrical permit. I think only prayer is going to make this happen. They say we will have electricity available Dec 23.
5. Ladies Guild Christmas party at Ramona’s house, Dec 17 at noon.

Be strong in the Lord: