Hurricane Season

Well the new Hurricane Season just recently began and Florida has already seen their first tropical storm that bordered on hurricane strength. It's amazing that the Gulf of Mexico Coast has to ready itself for the possibility of new hurricanes when the damage from last year's Katrina still has not been repaired. In fact, experts say recovery from Katrina will approach 10 years.

Meadowbrook has been involved in helping as many people as possible from the beginning. We have an ongoing relief effort and permanent campsite on the MS coast thanks to a federal grant and the donations provided by Jackson area members.

Frequently, Meadowbrook sends a team of volunteers down to the coast to work with our staff down there. It's a chance for a morale boost for them as well as an opportunity for us to serve people who are trying to gather the remnants of their lives. A couple weekends ago, I joined about 14 other Jesus followers from Meadowbrook and we went to work.

The destruction is amazing. Nearly nine months later and some areas still look like they did immediately after the storm. Cars are pushed out into the woods. Debris is everywhere (including 25 feet high in the trees where it got stuck when the waters receded). The trees look like something out of a Salvador Dali painting, stripped bare of their growth. Many of the pines were snapped in half. The mighty oaks were uprooted. Many of the pines that survived the winds were killed weeks later by saltwater poisoning from the displaced ocean. The trees that did survive are starting to sprout new leaves but still look strange with all of their new growth concentrated so near the branches. It's as if God's creation turned on itself.

Man's creations fared even worse. Houses weren't just damaged, they were decimated. Driving along residential streets provides views of foundations after foundations but the structures that once sat atop them are gone. Houses that were constructed on pillars to try to avoid flood waters are gone with the pillars remaining. Many of them have front steps that lead up to a nonexistent home.

Even the wealth of the retail giant Walmart could not protect one local Walmart near the beach. The structure is still somewhat in tact, but the walls have been blown out by the pounding waves. Seemingly millions of white plastic Walmart bags were strewn in the trees behind the store. As one of our team members quipped, "...and so , all of the merchandise slowly floated back to China."

Moreover, people's lives were destroyed. These last few months have seen divorce and suicide rates skyrocket. Some schools are still closed. Work is scarce, unless you are skilled in construction or contracting work. White FEMA trailers dot residential areas. Grocery and supply stores are few and far between and understocked.



I can't quite imagine what would happen if another strong storm hits anywhere between Galveston and Panama City. The destruction of all the temporary shelters and what little progress that has been made would be devastating.

We hope this season will spare this area. If we can get through this season, I think we can make enough progress over the next year to be ready for future storms. I hope the federal government will keep this effort a priority in the way they budget money. Meadowbrook is in the process right now of trying to gain approval for an additional grant that would allow the continuation and expansion of our recovery effort. Pray that we are approved and that we will steward the money well.

Also, pray for the people that have had their lives shaped by this storm. Some people's lives were defined by the Great Depression. Some were defined by WWII. Some were defined by Vietnam. Some will be defined by Katrina.