exactly what we needed

Well, it's Tuesday morning. Gustav has moved on. We are all still evacuated and waiting for the OK to come home and see things with our own eyes. While no levees broke, it sounds like we could come home to find downed trees, fences or roofs. Right now, I know that the church property has lost one fence and one tree.

As I think over the past three years, so many faces flash before my eyes. My pastoral heart has been broken to see so many hurting on an emotional level. Those wounds were torn back open by the collision of the Katrina anniversary and the Gustav evacuation.

We gathered on Saturday night to pray. We prayed for our people and for our leaders. We prayed for God to intervene and turn the storm.

We asked God, "why?" Perhaps this is exactly what we needed.

Evacuation forced us to re-live many of the emotions and moments of Katrina. It hurt so badly that it caught us off guard. After all, that was three years ago.

We needed this. We need closure. We are ready to move forward. God has much to do in this city. We as a church need to be ready to dive in and be used by Him.

Maybe this is exactly what we needed.

So many seeds of the Gospel have been planted over the past three years. As many of you who have come down on work teams know, we believe that revival will flood this city. We have been waiting. It it has seemed as if God needed something to occur to trigger the outpouring of His Spirit.

Maybe this is exactly what we needed.

I believe in a God who has a firm grip on the winds and the waves. He intended for Katrina to decimate New Orleans. He intended for Gustav to scare us to death. He is moving us toward the Kingdom of God. I trust Him. He knows exactly what we need right now.