HELLO! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get on here and send an update. We are finally home. Our return trip began at 9:45 a.m. on Friday and was much shorter than our evacuation, about 5 hours shorter, and the traffic wasn't nearly as bad. Perhaps we took the long way, but we headed south on I-65 to Montgomery, Alabama and then on to Mobile, Alabama where we joined I-10 westbound and made the final stretch home. This is where we ran into most of the traffic, especially as we entered Mississippi. Once we were into the city traffic began to move just fine, and actually seemed pretty light.

As we drove into the neighborhood I saw that the sign on our new land which we worked so hard to install was facedown on the ground, but other than that, there were just a few branches and piles of leaves and general debris here and there. I didn't make it out to survey most of the city until Saturday and even then the most damage I saw was downed trees, none of which seemed to have caused much structural damage.

I know the parishes to our west were hit much harder and some are just getting power back on today. Our church has already talked about a trip west to help those folks and TouchGlobal Crisis Response, our partnering ministry, has already had people on the ground there for a few days.

In New Orleans grocery stores, Wal-Mart and other businesses are now almost all reopened. Shelves are being restocked and gas tanks filled. I know we delayed our return a few days just to allow some of the necessities (gas and food) to get here first.

All in all, I'd say this was a good experience. Not one I'd like to repeat anytime soon, but good.

I now know what it is like to drive away from my home not knowing if there will be anything left when I return. I know what it's like to practice patience as I travel with a caravan of coworkers and church family through stop and go traffic. I know what it's like to be registered as an "evacuee" and offered a bag of free toiletries. I know what it's like to sleep on a gym floor with all my coworkers and what it's like to wake up in the same situation. I know what it's like to be grateful for a hot meal and a hot shower. I know what it's like to walk past the television to see a swirling mass in the gulf and watch water lap the sides of a levee while wondering what will happen. I know what it's like to be delivered from the storm. I know what it's like to breathe a sigh of joyful relief as the storm passes and good reports pour from my city. I know what it's like to long for home so much I can't stand it and I know what it's like to ride back into town and gaze again on the skyline of the place I love to find it only a little bruised and battered. I know what it's like to be part of a group of pepole who are resilient and determined. I know what it's like to trust God for everything, knowing the future is so uncertain. And I know without a doubt that he will remain faithful even in the worst of storms.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fail. God will help her at break of day...Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." - Psalm 46:1-5, 10-11