New Orleans Mission Trip January 23, 2007

We began this morning with a devotional by Bill who read from Psalm 27. Bill had noticed this Psalm written on the garage door of a home on Sandpiper Street where we are working. Verse 1 starts "The Lord is my light and my salvation. I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger. I will never be afraid." These are powerful words of faith to have written on your door when you have been through what these people have.

We worked all day on Erma's house, painting her walls with the color that she had chosen. Harrison, Vicki, Kelly, the Dougs, Tom, John and Bill are painting machines! With the exception of a small bathroom off of the bedroom, which will be finished on Wednesday, Erma's walls are complete. We also purchased doors and a small trim board to put up around the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling and we painted those too. On the way home, Doug Allen took those of us in the van on a tour of some streets in the Uptown area and Audubon Park where architecturally beautiful houses escaped the floodwaters. We returned to the church for dinner, weary and satisfied with our day of labor.

Tonight we stayed in for dinner of lasagna, fresh French bread and salad, and were joined by Cliff and his wife Nieta, Joel the Canadian and Debbie and Eric, the New York couple, who are giving much help to Cliff with organizing the accounting for this ministry as well as overseeing the building projects. We presented the check from FPCMARIETTA for $13,840, which is from our Mission Outreach from 2006. Bill reported to Cliff that his Katrina Relief efforts were part of our Mission Outreach for 2007 as well. Cliff was grateful for the contribution and we assured him that First Pres Marietta was firmly behind him in helping rebuild homes of those who desperately needed his and our help. When Cliff prayed to bless our food for dinner, he gave thanks for our group of missionaries, calling us a group form "afar," but we assured him that Marietta, Georgia was right around the corner and we were really neighbors!

After dinner, John Bretch led a reflection based on a word "enough" that he had seen on a house. Doug Ivester reminded us that even when we think we have had "enough" of helping rebuild people's lives, that we are really doing what we are doing for Christ, and there will never be enough. Christ never says that he has had "enough" with us and never gives up on us. This writer feels blessed to be on this trip, to be part of this group of Godly men and women who have hearts for Christ.