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MORE
THAN EVER
The
power is back on. Gas is expensive but available. The
debris has been mostly cleaned up. More than three months
have passed since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
And while our everyday routine has returned to something
approaching normal, our lives will never be the same.
Katrina
visited untold devastation upon Mississippi's Gulf Coast,
turned one of America's most beloved cities into an apocalyptic
nightmare, and has presented our region, state, and local
community with an unprecedented challenge. The awesome
power of nature is truly humbling, and reminds us of
what it means to be human in a universe with forces beyond
our comprehension.
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Indeed,
at times like this, it is our humanity and our faith that empower
us. It is the shock of recognition when we watch television
images of a poor family on a rooftop, surrounded by floodwaters
and with no help on the way, that enables us to say, "That's
not right. We must never let this happen again." It's the knowledge
that there, but for the grace of God, goes you and I.
It's
the understanding that comes from seeing a tree in your neighbor's
front yard snapped like a twig, and falling on their other
neighbor's roof rather than your own. It's the pain in one's
heart from seeing an entire city turned into a lake, or a coastline
reduced to rubble.
The
attacks of September 11th, 2001 reminded us once before of
both our frailty and our ability to come together as a nation.
The disaster of Katrina, and the many questions it raises about
the ability of our society to respond to such a catastrophe,
all highlight more than ever the importance of building strong,
vibrant, and confident communities. When disaster strikes,
we must be able to rely on and trust each other. The only way
to safeguard that trust is to build it over time… rather than
waiting until time has passed us by.
That
trust comes from education, and health care, and jobs, and
confidence in our infrastructure and our institutions. It takes
time and farsighted effort to build these things. Sometimes
it may also require government intervention, sometimes not… but
it always requires the love that Jesus asks of us… for each
other as much as for Himself. He asks this of us without regard
to another's color, or their religion, or their station in
life.
Hurricane
Katrina demands a relief and rebuilding effort of historic
proportions. Americans, Mississippians, and Jacksonians have
nobly stepped up to the plate. But Katrina has shown us, and
painfully so, that we must do more as a society to strengthen
communities so that they are ready for disasters before they
happen.
We
are all brothers and sisters, and we are all children of God.
We all are susceptible to the capriciousness of nature, and
we all are part of a larger plan. As we move forward in the
aftermath of Katrina, let us do so with all of this in mind. "And
now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest
of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)
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