Sunday, September 11, 2005
America, Roll Up Your Shirtsleeves!
America, the time has come to roll up your shirtsleeves! Hurricane Katrina didn't just happen to our Cajun neighbors in Louisiana, it happened to you and me as well. We are seeing her effects through increased gas prices, food shortages, and many unexpected things yet to come. Our local Wal-Mart ran out of sugar, coffee, and tea today, with no expected replenishment date for a while. New Orleans was a major entry port for coffee, so there is speculation that coffee prices may also increase. Our local Pepsi plant is currently out of Sierra Mist. Let's also think about what this crisis may do to financial markets. Think about what happened to money in New Orleans banks. We can only pray that records were backed up in a secure location, or some people may have a hard time proving how much money they had in their accounts. Our area in West Tennessee has welcomed hundreds of hurricane victims and tried to give our best Southern hospitality to these people.
As I was telling my Sunday school class yesterday, we've all got to pitch in to help, because what if the tables were turned and we needed assistance from damages due to earthquakes or tornadoes? I would only hope that someone would be there for me in that situation. Our lesson was about the early Christians and how they shared all of their assets while spreading the teachings of Jesus throughout the world. No one wanted for anything, because there was always someone to help them out. If the world still took this utopian view, there would be less crime and violence. People would have fewer reasons to be violent.
A week ago, I found out about fifty families who were being sponsored by American Greetings in a church campground near us. I remembered that we had four closets full of my mother-in-law's clothes just sitting at her house. That afternoon, my sister-in-law Jeannie, Marvin, and I spent time bagging up the clothes, bed linens, and towels for transportation to Covington, TN. By the time we were done, we had 12 large garbage bags full of clothing. It was tough giving away a part of someone who we loved so dearly, but she wouldn't have wanted us to do anything different. She would have been glad that we shared her possessions with others.
There is Operation Heart here in Dyersburg, and I have given clothing and food to this project. A truck is leaving every two days, taking supplies down to Biloxi for distribution. They are running out of food down there, and the lines are long. Last Tuesday night, I went through all of our closets at home and filled my GMC Jimmy full of clothing that we could spare. It's amazing that we actually had a truckload of things we weren't using. These are things that I will not even miss. It was so easy to do, and it is a comfort knowing that my clothes are being put to good use in the relief effort.
I hope that everyone can give what they can to get our brothers less fortunate back on track with just a few less worries. Life is too short not to help out where you can. So, give as much and give as often as you can. Your life will be blessed in ways that you cannot even begin to imagine. This whole tragedy is part of God's plan. We may never know the true purpose of why this happened, but I feel that it was God's way of making us care for each other a little more and bring a divided nation just a little closer.
As I was telling my Sunday school class yesterday, we've all got to pitch in to help, because what if the tables were turned and we needed assistance from damages due to earthquakes or tornadoes? I would only hope that someone would be there for me in that situation. Our lesson was about the early Christians and how they shared all of their assets while spreading the teachings of Jesus throughout the world. No one wanted for anything, because there was always someone to help them out. If the world still took this utopian view, there would be less crime and violence. People would have fewer reasons to be violent.
A week ago, I found out about fifty families who were being sponsored by American Greetings in a church campground near us. I remembered that we had four closets full of my mother-in-law's clothes just sitting at her house. That afternoon, my sister-in-law Jeannie, Marvin, and I spent time bagging up the clothes, bed linens, and towels for transportation to Covington, TN. By the time we were done, we had 12 large garbage bags full of clothing. It was tough giving away a part of someone who we loved so dearly, but she wouldn't have wanted us to do anything different. She would have been glad that we shared her possessions with others.
There is Operation Heart here in Dyersburg, and I have given clothing and food to this project. A truck is leaving every two days, taking supplies down to Biloxi for distribution. They are running out of food down there, and the lines are long. Last Tuesday night, I went through all of our closets at home and filled my GMC Jimmy full of clothing that we could spare. It's amazing that we actually had a truckload of things we weren't using. These are things that I will not even miss. It was so easy to do, and it is a comfort knowing that my clothes are being put to good use in the relief effort.
I hope that everyone can give what they can to get our brothers less fortunate back on track with just a few less worries. Life is too short not to help out where you can. So, give as much and give as often as you can. Your life will be blessed in ways that you cannot even begin to imagine. This whole tragedy is part of God's plan. We may never know the true purpose of why this happened, but I feel that it was God's way of making us care for each other a little more and bring a divided nation just a little closer.
