Longwood Apartments, Long Beach, MS

J walking through rubble.

The top floor of a building now in the middle of the road. The orange X is to note that the building has been searched for bodies.

Rubble 2 blocks from J's apartment where we found the photos of his son - untouched.

Several buildings still stood...

Ironically, the first aparment that J lived in is still standing (pictured in this photo). He moved due to flooding. He had an inch of water standing in his apartment several months ago; thus, moved to a new one.

National Guardsmen check passes to get into the area south of the railroad tracks.
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Inside J's first apartment - you can tell where the water line was.

The management cannot be found. J wants his deposit back! :)

Doubt any future resident will be parking here.

Long Beach
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More Long Beach destruction.
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J climbing debris to get to his coworkers house to check on him. No one had heard from him and his car was in front of the house. All had feared the worse. He was later located.

Long Beach

Residents of Long Beach say thank you.

Residents of Long Beach letting others know they are alive and well.

A Hymn in Response to Hurricane Katrina's Impact

A Hymn in Response to Hurricane Katrina's Impact
By Stephen D. Lawton

God of nature, at whose voice the waves and winds must now obey.

Editor's note: This is a hymn offered in response to Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing disasters in the Gulf Coast states, August 29, 2005. Written by Stephen D. Lawton, Director of Music and Worship at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church in Greenville, S.C. (PCA).

God of Nature, at Whose Voice

God of nature, at whose voice the waves and winds must now obey,
Give your people words of comfort, acts of grace to share today.
Yours the pow’r of devastation, yours to gather, help and heal;
We know not your ways of wisdom; let your light our paths reveal.

Shelter Lord, the homeless, helpless, young and old with pity see,
Give their daily food, supply their needs with perfect equity.
Grant protection, strength and patience to their rescuers, we pray;
Fill with hope the laboring workers, grace to serve both night and day.

Bring your people ever closer, sharing pain of grief and loss,
Motivate us, loving Savior, with the love shown by your cross.
We, your Body, long to serve you, serving others in your name,
And when sorrow washes o’er us, Gracious Spirit, heal the pain.

Call our nation to repentance; gather us that we may see
You’re the God of love and mercy; rescue us and set us free.
Let our deeds announce redemption, saving grace for all our days.
Let your song go forth to cheer us, lifting heart and hands to praise. Amen.

Beach Spring, 87.87.D (Come All Christians Be Committed)
© 2005 Stephen D Lawton, all rights reserved

http://www.byfaithonline.com/

Friday again

Things are progressing and life goes on. The destruction I've seen and tasted is so small compared to what is going on around us. I continue to be heartbroken and simply numb at times - in utter disbelief of what has happened. My head knows that our Lord is in control, but it can be so hard to believe at times.

All of us went to church together this past Sunday. I struggled with something the preacher said, and my father stated later that he did too. The preacher said that God did not cause this storm. I do know that God is not vindictive and that he did not willfully impose destruction upon us (the pastor's point was that we have storms and trials in life due to the fact that sin entered the world). However, who else controls the weather? No one but him. He is the author of it and the One that controls the winds and the waves. So I just have a hard time making sense of all that. I guess it's just one of those things we'll never understand. Someone enlighten me if you have some wisdom to share in this regard.

I continue to be so proud of my sweetheart. He came home from work all smiles yesterday. I think he's finding a sense of camaraderie amongst the guys he's working with. There seems to be a lightheartedness at work - they are providing a cookout today for all the workers (there are very few of them working on the Gulf Coast right now, it seems). I think he's needed this and I'm grateful for it. Someone that came into the plant yesterday said that he never would have expected to see such a happy bunch of guys. He is a survivor and I am proud of him. I am so grateful that he is in my life. I do adore him so.

No telling what this weekend will be like. There has been a curfew in Hattiesburg, and all of us are trying to conserve our funds. It may be a lazy weekend. I gotta get studying! We now have our cable and high speed internet back... There is no excuse now!

Ok, I better quit for now. I'll try to be better about updating this.. Thanks to all of you who are reading and keeping up...

A moment to rejoice

My sister went to her house in Metairie yesterday. They were allowing residents to go in for a brief time to check their offices/homes and remove items. My sis, mom and dad drove to Metairie (an 11.5 hour round trip - they only spent 1 hour in the house. Tells you how much time they spent in the car since it's about 100 miles to Metairie from Hattiesburg). My sister's house is 100% in perfect condition! We are so very grateful. She even had power! She said it was like she had just been gone for the weekend when she returned.

Sis is still praying for direction. Her school where she has been teaching is completely damaged as is her church. She will need to relocate somewhere temporarily until the city is up and running again but she is not sure where she will go.

JS is still staying with us at mom and dad's. He has been able to work at some of the concrete plants on the coast and has been commuting the past couple of days. The drive and gasoline will be tough on him, but I know he's glad to be working again and to be contributing to his home community.

J is hoping for temporary housing - possibly in Hattiesburg until housing is available on the coast. He is certainly grateful for mom and dad opening up their home (and I am certainly treasuring my time with him and the time that he and the family are having time to get to know each other better), but of course, desires a place of his own.

I will try to update my blog more regularly for those of you that would like to keep up. My studying has suffered greatly during all this. I'm hoping that we'll get our high speed internet up and going soon and that I'll be able to tear myself away from J to get some studying done!

Katrina

One view of J's apartment complex (the middle and right building are actually top floors from other buildings that have been placed in the road)

Today is the first day of work after Katrina's fury. It has been a very trying time. Getting back to work is somewhat refreshing - yet a tad difficult, too. My heart has broken because of all the pain and destruction around me and it's hard to go on - living as I did before the devastation.

Yesterday J and I went to Long Beach. We went to find some of his co-workers and to see the plant where he worked. I think he felt a need to get back and connect somewhat. He was able to connect with his supervisor and one other co-worker. The plant is about 50% destroyed. It will be rebuilt.

We got a pass from the Long Beach fire department to go into his neighborhood. I never imagined it would look the way it did. Someone told J, "anything you see on the news, or hear on the radio... it's worse...". There are marks on doors from where they were in each home looking for bodies. We weren't able to decipher the different marks to tell where there were bodies and were there weren't.

We went into what was his apartment complex and the stench was horrible. We had to climb over two buildings to get to where his apartment was. There is nothing left. For about a square mile, there is nothing but concrete slabs and debris...and silence. The silence was eerie. That was once such a noisy place - and now you could hear the waves from the Gulf a block away.

We were walking slowly, looking through debris two blocks from where J's apartment was. I looked down and saw a perfectly in-tact photo of his son. It was amazing. We found what looked like a suitcase of his in the same location. He opened it up and there was a receipt from when he stayed in a hotel back in June. Those were the only items he took away with him; the photo and the receipt. He was able to find the exact location of his apartment and could find nothing (although his son's toilet was still attached to the floor....pretty interesting).

My heart is heavy. Not for how this storm has affected me; but for how it's affected everyone else. I guess I've watched too much of the news. I see these children without their parents, and think of the thousands and thousands of people who are now homeless; the ones who don't know where their loved ones are. I know I'm one of the blessed. But I hurt for those that aren't so blessed.

I saw a sign yesterday spray painted outside of someone's home. It said: "By the grace of God, the south shall rise again." I pray that it will; I know it will only be by the grace and help of God.