For about 3 days I have teared up every time I think about what is about to happen in Louisiana.  I'm all the way up here in TN but my heart seems to be really closely connected to what is happening there.

I think it was the emotional ride that we went through three years ago with Hurricane Katrina. I wasn't even in south Louisiana but we helped in relief efforts and housed evacuees for weeks on end.  I was on staff at First West and we housed 150+ evacuees for well over a month. Mer coordinated food for these evacuees and I led the intake and dispersal of donations that were coming in.  We were the main hub for pretty much all of Northeast Louisiana for food, water and clothes.

 I can't explain to you what those days taught me and mean to me.  The upheaval of life is hard to imagine if you have never been around destruction of that type.  We spent endless hours with friends whose worlds had been ripped apart but were struggling to maintain hope and think about the future.

I know that those days are coming again for many of my friends and family.  I pray that the God of all peace will give them over and above what they need to make it through the coming hours and days.