Day 2 at Camp Dawson
These people are really quite remarkable. So upbeat, so hopeful, so eager to get on with life.
I sat and talked with one gentleman today who said he was doing pretty good. He said that things were looking up. And then about ten minutes into our conversation he said that he has had major diarrhea for the past four days! He's doing pretty good, and things are looking up?! Just amazing.
God created the human spirit with such reciliancy, and such capacity for compassion and hurt. And no matter how bad FEMA or the government messes up, that human spirit will keep on truckin'.
I played basketball with 5 kids today on and off. It was hot - and there was no cloud cover at all - but it was just so much fun. As we'd play, they'd talk about their experience, and the uncertainty of their future.
There's a pool available on the base, and one of the kids said in a very exasperated tone, "There's no way I'm going swimming - I've seen enough water!"
He then talked about wading through chest high filthy water to make his way to the Superdome.
They were concerned about where they would be going to school. They wanted to play basketball on their school teams again, but were willing to teach the West Virginia farm boys a thing or two if it came to that.
I talked to another fellow that I met on Monday who is getting ready to head to Asheville on Friday. Such faith. Such strength. He saw God blessing him through his experience at Camp Dawson - as if God had been preparing him through his life for it. He felt that God would use him and his witness from this ordeal for many years to come. He felt a call to the ministry.
I also met one of my cousins there from West Viriginia. She works with the state unemployent office, and WV had found several hundred jobs in the middle of the state with good pay and even temporary housing. I am just stunned over and over again about how people are picking up the ball and running with it in so many different directions, and in so many important ways.
I also say this total mountain man - complete with hunting fatigues and blaze-orange cap sitting down and talking to this total inner city black man. These two would NEVER have given each other the time of day two weeks ago. But now, they're brothers. Now, they're ministering to each other.
This has been a total devastating disaster. Lives have been lost, and lives have been changed forever. But, maybe some of those lives that have been changed forever will be changed for the good. And maybe lives that were never affected by the rain, wind, and floods of the hurricane will be changed forever too.
Dare I say our nation, our communities, and the Church could be changed forever?
I sat and talked with one gentleman today who said he was doing pretty good. He said that things were looking up. And then about ten minutes into our conversation he said that he has had major diarrhea for the past four days! He's doing pretty good, and things are looking up?! Just amazing.
God created the human spirit with such reciliancy, and such capacity for compassion and hurt. And no matter how bad FEMA or the government messes up, that human spirit will keep on truckin'.
I played basketball with 5 kids today on and off. It was hot - and there was no cloud cover at all - but it was just so much fun. As we'd play, they'd talk about their experience, and the uncertainty of their future.
There's a pool available on the base, and one of the kids said in a very exasperated tone, "There's no way I'm going swimming - I've seen enough water!"
He then talked about wading through chest high filthy water to make his way to the Superdome.
They were concerned about where they would be going to school. They wanted to play basketball on their school teams again, but were willing to teach the West Virginia farm boys a thing or two if it came to that.
I talked to another fellow that I met on Monday who is getting ready to head to Asheville on Friday. Such faith. Such strength. He saw God blessing him through his experience at Camp Dawson - as if God had been preparing him through his life for it. He felt that God would use him and his witness from this ordeal for many years to come. He felt a call to the ministry.
I also met one of my cousins there from West Viriginia. She works with the state unemployent office, and WV had found several hundred jobs in the middle of the state with good pay and even temporary housing. I am just stunned over and over again about how people are picking up the ball and running with it in so many different directions, and in so many important ways.
I also say this total mountain man - complete with hunting fatigues and blaze-orange cap sitting down and talking to this total inner city black man. These two would NEVER have given each other the time of day two weeks ago. But now, they're brothers. Now, they're ministering to each other.
This has been a total devastating disaster. Lives have been lost, and lives have been changed forever. But, maybe some of those lives that have been changed forever will be changed for the good. And maybe lives that were never affected by the rain, wind, and floods of the hurricane will be changed forever too.
Dare I say our nation, our communities, and the Church could be changed forever?
posted by Fr. Rick Morley at 2:05 PM
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