New Orleans

It's finally here: the New Orleans post. This is from the journal I kept during the weekend, along with a bit of expounding on my part.

Thursday, October 13

The drive down here went as well as I could have hoped. My van had a great time getting to know/making fun of each other.

I was amazed at how far away we were when we started seeing snapped trees along the highway. I think it was about when we hit Tuscaloosa, which was a good three hours outside of New Orleans.

The aftermath became progressively more frequent and severe the closer we got to New Orleans. It looked like a poorly-sharpened lawn mower, with about half of the trees knocked down, probably more.

It wasn't until just before we crossed Lake Ponchatraine that I saw the true scope of the damage. Driving down the narrow road through the swampland was completely surreal. I still can't quite grasp what I saw; it almost felt like I was watching CNN through the car window. Mounds of debris hovered on both sides of the street, and I was amazed that Brent was able to focus enough on driving not get us all killed.

We drove past house after house that we all knew were unsalvageable. And this area wasn't even severely flooded. I think the thing that struck me most was all the cars and boats strewn about in every imaginable position. It was like a kid had dumped out his toy box and left before picking anything up.

Crossing the lake, we saw another bridge a quarter mile away that looked fine when looking at it straight on, but when we got further down we looked back and could see that half of the lanes into the city had collapsed. Insane.

Once in the city, we began to see the major flood damage. A visible line had been drawn on everything, marking how high the water had reached. Entire lots of new cars were covered with water stains and unimaginable filth. We drove past countless cars that had been left behind and now stood with wide-open drivers' doors, a tell-tale sign of looting. It's hard for me to imagine people who have nothing breaking into a useless car to steal useless audio equipment. Where are they going to take the $1,000 sound system that now weighs twice as much as it used to because of all the water in it? I guess I can't know how I would react unless I was in that position, and I selfishly pray I never am.

I am so grateful to Sarah Beth and her family for opening their wonderful home to us. The house is in the Garden District, which didn't flood, and the houses are all very nice. Her neighbors even include Archie Manning, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and author Anne Rice. It is so nice to be in a comfortable setting for the evening, and I'm sure I will appreciate this situation many times over come tomorrow evening. Now, I just need some sleep.

I was listening to Caedmon's Call in the car today, and they talked about an attitude that I'm sure I will witness this weekend, and I hope to emulate it eventually with God's help:

This world calls me poor...
He always provides
Sure as the sun will rise
So I sing Him songs of praise
'Cause I know He keeps me in His gaze...
Jesus is all I need


October 14

Today was not what I expected at all. We got to the church around 8:30, and they split us into three groups. There was one that was going to do some demo that I kind of wanted to be on, but of course I always want everyone else to be happy, so I let the other guys that I knew also wanted to go take that job. I ended up staying at the church.

First Baptist New Orleans is a gorgeous church building. Practically new, this multi-million dollar facility was spared the brunt of Katrina's wrath, with no flooding, but did sustain roof damage that led to a mold problem. They had been working on cleaning it up for at least a week, and things were moving much faster since they gained their power back on Thursday, and I think they said the flood waters had receded from the area about two weeks ago.

Much of the work was mindless: vacuuming, mopping, hauling trash. The largest project we took on was the mold-infested sheet music library that was stacked behind the church. There had to be 1,000 boxes of music there, and in the 5 or so hours we worked specifically on that, we got a little over half done. I was disappointed we couldn't finish it, but we ran out of storage boxes, so we did all we could.

The whole time I was going through that music I kept wondering why on Earth I was doing this. The music was all old, most had probably been performed once, and that was in 1959. It will take someone literally months to go through the boxes we gathered today. Even now, I still don't have a clue as to why we were supposed to do that today. I may never know. But I know it encouraged the coordinators, Carol and Emmitt, so maybe that's all we needed to do. Who knows?

We left the church around 3:30 to help another group that was packing up a house. The house had not been flooded, but the single mother who owned it was moving to Austin, TX anyway. They had been at this place, all four of them, for over 7 hours, and were on their second room. I felt so bad for them, I know I would have been completely discouraged. The rooms in this house were basically filled with the equivalent of everything I have ever owned in my life, and each room was that full. So much crap; I was dumbfounded.

I didn't think about it at the time, but someone mentioned later how ironic it is that we came down here to help people who had nothing and ended up helping someone with everything you could possibly imagine. That woman needed us just as much as anyone else in New Orleans. Funny how God works like that.

I'm pretty tired tonight, mostly from being drained by the sun. Tomorrow is really another day of uncertainty for me. After hearing all day that we would have the chance to do demolition tomorrow, I have been placed on a team that isn't scheduled to do anything like that. I may even end up packing boxes at Miss Adele's again for awhile. I want to serve in any way that is needed, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm gonna be disappointed if I don;t get to swing a hammer.

God, give me peace in whatever I do tomorrow. Provide energy, joy, and passion to help me make it through. I think joy would be most important to me, and hopefully that's infectious.

I better get to sing tomorrow too. A day without music is a day not fully lived.


October 15

I can hardly hold this pen to write, my hands are so sore, but I know that if I don't write now, I will forget important things about an amazing day of work.

This morning, I had the privilege of helping Frank Catalenotto and his wife, Kay, as they cleaned up their snow ball stand, a family business for the past 50 years that spent weeks under 10 feet of water. This short Italian man and his southern-twanged Italian accent was so thankful for our help, and we were happy to give it to him.

The shack that had once housed his business now reeked of one the foulest, most indescribable stenches I can imagine. Somehow, God basically plugged my nose, since I hardly noticed. I have the uncanny ability to detach myself from stressful situations, and that is how I spent most of this morning. The styrofoam cups, straw, refrigerators; everything is a blur right now. Everything, that is, except the syrup.

In a moment of genius, Chris Loffi decided it would be easier to dispose of the gallons of flavored syrup down the drain and throw out the empty jugs, so we began pouring bottle after bottle of fruit flavoring down the drain.

After a few bottles, the smell of the syrups began to overpower the stench. Pina colada, almond, strawberry, all mixing together to form an amazing aroma. Frank was so pleased when this happened, and he said that was how the shop used to smell all the time, At that moment I could picture him back in his shop serving over-heated children with a smile on a hot New Orleans day. I think he could see it too, and I was glad we were able to give that to him.

Once we finished the cleaning, we went with Frank and Kay to their house to help their neighbor by cutting up a few trees that had fallen in their yard. This gave Chris and Jonathan the opportunity to use their chainsaw skills, and Darin even got in on the action.

Our next stop was the Ashe home, a gorgeous residence built about six feet above the street that sustained water damage in their house about 8 feet high, meaning the water was close to 15 feet deep at one point. So much more water than I can even imagine in a residential area. We helped them get some large pieces of furniture out of the house, and then began the daunting task of gutting the house with the little time we had left. The sheet rock was so rotten I could basically shove my hand through it and drag it down to the hand, crumbling in pieces at my feet.

As we were leaving, we realized we were close to the 17th street levee breech, so we decided to drive through that area. Within the first 100 feet of our drive, we realized we would need to go through again, this time on foot.

The devastation was unimaginable. It was like a massive tornado had gone through, tearing everything to pieces and leaving a thick layer of mud wherever it went. The houses, at least those that were still there, were typically missing half of the main level. We saw foundations with no signs of the houses that once occupied them. Cars were strewn about in trees, yards, and dilapidated homes. One house looked normal until we realized it had shifted 10 feet left of its foundation.

I can't really describe what I saw accurately, probably because I switched into detached mode again. But I do know what I saw are things I will never forget.

This evening was an amazing chance to hang out with the amazing people in this group, and I enjoy spending time with all of them.

I hope that I can begin to process this sometime, but its too much to try and think about at one time, and I can't even begin to think deeply about this experiences implications in my own life, but I know I'll figure it out eventually.


October 16

Church this morning was great. The music was a mix of hymns and mid-90's praise songs, including an unexpected minor progression for the third verse of "Blessed Assurance". It was great to see all of the people we had helped as well, and everyone was so appreciative of our help.

I would seriously come down here every weekend if I could. The need is so great, I bet I could help full-time for a year and hardly make a dent. I really hope I get the chance to do this over Christmas or something like that.

The people that I've met here that came with me are great, and now I have another group of people at church with which I share a common bond.

I'm not sure I will ever fully understand why God burdened me so much with the plight of this city, but I love the opportunities He has given me to act on it. Everywhere I turned this weekend I saw devastation mixed with frustration and hope. Everyone we met had hope for what God had planned for them in the coming months and years. For many, it was a wake-up call to change, others to serve, others to live. The community of New Orleans will never be the same, but I think the new attitude of those who have been displaced will permeate throughout the country, impacting countless lives with the profound power of hope in the darkness.

Brent read us a quote from a book he's reading that said "Why do we blame the darkness for being dark? We should ask the light why it's not brighter." That's the best way I can describe the work this week, and that's the way I'll remember what we did.



At church today they announced that there's another group going December 1-4. I'm gonna do everything I can to be on that trip too.