Just a few comments on the hurricane that is heading for the Gulf Coast.  One of my children and her husband own a house in New Orleans.  They lived there from 2003 until last July (they are military, so they don’t get to chose where they live).  They love New Orleans and hope to get back there when they retire. 

Anyway, just a few memories of Katrina.  The military ordered my daughter and son-in-law out of New Orleans on the Saturday before Katrina hit, and they left with a two-year old, a five-month old, and two cats.  They were relocated to Kansas City with about seventy-five other military families.  A local church ‘adopted’ all the dislocated families, gave the children backpacks filled with beanie babies, and helped individuals in so many ways it would take days to list them.  They were able to return to their house two days before Thanksgiving.  They were extremely fortunate–they lost some siding, some roof shingles, a swimming pool, and a refrigerator.  Their next door neighbors were able to get into their house the following May; they lost nearly everything.  When it was time for my daughter and her husband to be transferred out of New Orleans (last year) their then four-year old said to them in a very worried voice, “Will I be able to bring my stuff this time when we move?”  Their story is nothing compared to the destruction that happened around them, but even what they went through had a strong impact on their children.  We need to pray for all the people who live on the Gulf Coast–for their safety and for the unseen impact that this storm will have on their lives.