Robin Hardy Online

April 7, 2006: A reader from Slidell, LA, offers these thoughts on the lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast in late August, 2005:    

Robin,

Remember me? I am Olive, the lady from the New Orleans area. I saw the postcards from your parents' honeymoon in New Orleans [here]. Blessings to you for giving a moment of hope to us. We will make it past this moment.

Everyone in my family on the north and south side of Lake Pontchartrain flooded. I have family in Plaquemines Parish where there is a lane with seven houses on it. When they were able to go back home, those seven houses could not be found. At the present moment, I am living in a FEMA trailer on the site of my flooded home.

In Slidell, water from the lake flowed FIVE MILES from Lake Pontchartrain into Slidell. Every subdivision on the South side of Slidell went under water. My church flooded and the Christian school where I am principal (which is on the south side of Slidell) flooded as well. At the high point of the disaster, 13k meals were served daily though our church facility. FBC, Slidell lost one third of its church population and the students of our school returned to the classroom on concrete floors and with sheetrocked walls.

I was telling someone today of the enormity of this event: If I stand in Slidell, I could drive THREE HOURS to the east and see destruction. Then, I could drive SIX HOURS to the west and see the same devastation. Hattiesburg, MS is ninety miles north of Slidell and devastation extends beyond miles beyond this city.

Seven months after the event, I drive through Slidell and New Orleans and still go WOW. The enormity of the event amazes me.

I am making it because the Father keeps inviting me to have Him enter my pain. He heals broken hearts. And my heart is in His hands. I had someone tell me that if we are in the birth pains (Revelation) that we should consider Katrina a trial run. Me? I think the Father is breaking down every wall that separates us from Him. In the midst of this disaster, the churches in our area are having their finest hour. Please feel free to pray for us.

Olive
Slidell, LA
 

March 9, 2006: With the long-term repercussions of Hurricane Katrina sinking in, we were interested in this letter from a reader whose mother's family suffered repeated flooding of their island home in the Philippines:

I was re-reading Prisoners of Hope and there's a section where there's something about the original citizens of Prie Mer being better able to weather the storm than the newcomers. A little while after Katrina, some people were "complaining" on the news. My mom made a comment along the lines of "what's wrong with them?". Not that she didn't have sympathy for their loss and pain, but she couldn't understand why they weren't more grateful for their lives. I reminded her that those of us in the States don't have the benefit of her experience. In her country (the main island of Luzon in the Philippines), there is a rainy season where the rivers flood and the rice paddies fill up. But every few years, the rainy season can get very bad and it's disastrous if combined with typhoons.

More than once, my mom watched the bamboo hut her father built with his own hands wash away with all of their belongings - and they didn't have much to begin with. She told me about having one nice dress and pair of shoes to wear to mass (she was raised Catholic). Her older sister would wear it to one service, then she would change into it so she could go to the next service. They had to climb up into the mountains or cling to trees to weather the storm if it got really bad. My grandparents had 12 kids and 1 miscarriage, all total. Of the 5 children who did not survive to adulthood - not a single one was lost to flood. (My mom told of neighbors who lost infants and toddlers to the flood waters.) Due to the time of year these floods would come, there would be nothing to left to eat but green bananas. [See P.S. below.] I don't know if you've ever eaten an unripe or not-quite-ripe banana, but they don't have much flavor and it makes your mouth feel like it's dry and full of cotton. ICK! But my grandfather would gather the family around and give thanks to God that they had green bananas to eat and that none of them had drowned or been swept away. Now that's faith! They didn't have much, but they always made sure to share whatever they had with their neighbors. It's a struggle to survive when your rice seed has washed away, and a tragedy when your "tractor" - water buffalo – gets washed away.

My mom used to tell me that story when I complained about what was for supper.  I remember being particularly ungrateful for her meatloaf. (sigh) I shuddered to think of what life would be like if all I had to eat for the foreseeable future was green bananas. I would go into my room and look at all of my stuffed animals and dresses I had to pick from for church and tried to imagine having it all swept away or burnt to ashes. I felt really ashamed and spoiled.  Just thinking about that story - and everything my mom's lived through - still makes me cry to this day.  The people who survived Katrina just aren't used to having something like this happen to them over and over and over again - like my mom did. They also had a lot more possessions to lose and I suppose that makes the blow all the worse. We sure are lucky to have the Red Cross and FEMA (regardless of what failures may have occurred) because they last time they had a flood 'back home' my mom and her siblings here in the States wired money over to help the family.

P.S. Apparently, when the typhoons came all the fruit would get knocked down from the trees. They did eat whatever ripe bananas they could find first. When those were gone, they were reduced to eating the unripe bananas. She said you can ripen bananas off the tree by burying them in a bin of rice which keeps them warm, but when you have no rice that's not an option anymore. She also told me this would happen once or twice each year during the rainy season. I didn't realize that! I thought it only happened once every few years. It was the entire house getting washed away that only happened to them every few years. [back to text]

Following are some of the letters we have received after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast late August, 2005. We are impressed by the hope, faith and gratitude to God our readers have expressed.

Sept. 1, 2005: Ah Robin, I've written you before as you'll probably remember. I'm from New Orleans. Thankfully I'm in school right now in Virginia and was far from the destruction but my family had to evacuate. My little sister had to leave everything behind because we never imagined something like this and so the necessities are all we've ever taken. She lamented that she only brought one book with her. She has to move and go to another school in Delaware hundreds upon hundreds of miles from home. I feel stupid asking but perhaps there's a way we could work out for her to get your books. . . . [Books are being shipped to her today, gratis.--RHO]

There's more though. I know God is using this. I'm not sure how yet but I know at church we're constantly talking about how we want to take the whole city for Christ and that would be so awesome and amazing but it seems so impossible. This hurricane removes distractions. I believe it's going to open many people up to Christ but I also think it'll awaken a spirit within the city that just hasn't been there before. We have to be family, we have to support each other and that's going to change the way we look at things, the way we relate. Just an encouraging word to anyone in New Orleans or a bad place right now. God calls the Wilderness His. There's no other place that He calls His own and this storm has created a vast wilderness. But for those of us who have God this is a wilderness that brings us closer to Him. A Wilderness that we are protected as we walk through. I'm comforted by that.

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
     you have made my lot secure.

 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
     surely I have a delightful inheritance.

 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
     even at night my heart instructs me. " Psalm 16: 5-7

That says it all. We have been assigned our portion and our cup, our lot is secure and our inheritance will be delightful. We look at the screens and our hearts sink but when we look to the Word there's God giving us the words we've needed. I know God's prepared my and my family for this, done small things that seemed insignificant or coincidental at the time but now are grand in their scope. If you examine your life you'll see the same thing. You know, even if you're not affected by the storm directly, if the Wilderness is not that of a ravaged home there are so many who have things in their life that are just devastating and I just want to let everyone know that whatever your wilderness is called, it's God's and so surrender it to Him.

God's blessing me, even as my heart is heavy and Satan tries to tell me otherwise.

CG

Sept. 2, 2005: Last night God kept telling me to read the Bible. I usually read it every day but He just kept pushing me but I picked it up and I started reading the Psalms.I got to Psalm 55 and these verses hit me so hard.

 "22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

23 But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; blood thirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you."

 I'm still in awe of them reading them again. The words won't come in the fluid way they usually do because these verses are terrifying in a way. Having lived in New Orleans all my life I know first hand the corruption and the disgusting slime pit that it is in so many ways. But I also know it from a perspective that other people don't. To the outside world, I'm sure especially to outside Christians New Orleans would seem like nothing more than that disgusting pit of corruption. I know that there are saints working diligently within the city, I know that amazing change was coursing through us, I know that life was coming back to our spiritually dead city but I also know that cleansing is sometimes necessary.

 I look at my Church web site [here] and am assured that nothing but good reports have been pouring in about our congregation. In my own family we just bought a brand new car. There's no reason my Dad should have, he could have rented a car to take me to school and that would have been less of an investment than a new one. My dad is not the kind of person to just buy something like that, especially not now because we've gone through a bankruptcy but he told he just felt led to buy that car. That car is now the only thing we have. That was God, it wasn't fate some miraculous happenstance, it was God rescuing His people, providing a way for them and that is amazing.

We just went through a merger with another Church to build us up, to give hope to an injured community, that was God I know it was God no matter what happens with everything that was God's will, even if it seems pointless now. Part of me starts thinking about all the negative things that have come of this; the obvious lack of house, lack of home, sheer destruction, and the debilitating images from the news then there's this other part of me that says there's good. My grandmother will get to spend time with her other grandchildren, my Dad will get to learn something new and be with his sister, and I know that spiritually our family as a whole has a great opportunity for growth. We're no longer allowed to be three people living in an apartment all by ourselves and keeping what we have away from my Grand parents, away from my aunt, we're people that are going to rub right up next to each other and maybe some of us will rub off on them and some of them will rub off on us and that is an opportunity.

But what terrified me is thinking that this is a cleansing of the city. But then God has given me peace that this is going to be for good because God works all things for the good of those who love Him and I am so glad that I love Him. This is really teaching me to rely on Him because everything else is fleeting and can just be gone so quickly. I mean it's insane He just told me before I left that I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend because I don't know how to rely on Him to love me and I know He wanted me in Virginia for a reason and now I'm staying, I'm stuck staying really. But then there's only a small part of me that feels stuck. There's a large part of me that says this is bigger than me and that there are going to be so many blessings from this that I'm just going to stand in awe for the rest of my life.

CG

Sept. 5, 2005: I am not materially affected by the hurricane because I live in another state (which has taken in many more than their fair share of the NO refugees). As awful as it is to watch the heartbreak and devastation, I also share your (CG) optimism that God(working thru all the angels doing the rescue, cleanup, and rebuilding that surely follows) has plans for a better NO/emerald coast to ultimately emerge.  I am optimistic that much personal, local, state and national good will come from this Act of God.

 My thoughts and prayers are with you and all those affected and my cash donations are going to the Salvation Army.

 MT

Sept. 5, 2005: Actually I got to see my family this weekend and I felt better after that but more than that there are a few people in my Church who are just like my family, they are closer than some of my biological family and every time someone asked me if my family was alright I knew that what they wanted was my biological family but the things is family is bigger than blood. I couldn't sleep well because my family could have been in the flood. It made me insane and I was totally on edge. Last night God spoke a word to me that my last family member that I was worrying about was safe but it was greater than that, He not only spoke a word to me He had a message posted on my church message board AND He had my friend send me an e-mail. How awesome is our God?! . . .

I really do thank everyone for anything they can do for the effort to rebuild the city. Someone told me that their friend wanted to give everything he could but he had nothing so all he could do was pray. Know that prayer is more powerful than stuff. Prayer moves mountains and as much as the people of New Orleans have physical needs right now is the time to pray for their spiritual needs. That every act of kindness would bring them closer to God, that every moment would show them that God is a God of grace and mercy.

CG

Sept. 6, 2005: It didn't seem right to be talking about life going on as normal elsewhere with everything that's going on in the Gulf Coast.  But my husband's brother just got married Saturday back here in Nebraska and I saw that life does go on - we can't stop it.  He and his new wife are driving down to Mobile, AL, today to see what's left of what would now be their new home and all their belongings. At the wedding they told us they called a neighbor and found out their chimney fell down and some shingles blew off.  For the dollar dance they announced, "Come on everybody - John and Lindsy need a new roof!" John joked to me, "We get to rebuild our house for our honeymoon. Everyone should have to go through that. If we can survive this we can survive anything." Plus we just found out that John, who is in the Air Force Reserves, is slated to be sent to Iraq this winter. Yes, if they can survive all that, I believe they probably can survive anything.

SO

Sept. 7, 2005: We also finally heard from John and Lindsy right before dinner tonight. [See letter immediately above.] They started out on Monday but were diverted somewhere north of Birmingham because the roads were closed. So they stopped for the night and continued on this morning. They had to take the roundabout way home and it added another 8 hours to the trip. John is the humorous one of the family and so carefree. This was the first time I've ever heard him without that customary spunk in his voice. He said several times, "It's a disaster area." The chimney is lying in the front yard.  The backyard is filled with trees on top of trees.  Some of the shingles didn't just blow away as the neighbor had said - they can actually look up and see the sky from their living room. Windows were blown out.  I asked him if they had electricity and water but he didn't answer so I'm not sure. I think they could really use some prayer because they sounded a bit dejected and it's going to take a long time to clean everything up.

SO

Sept. 17, 2005: I thought this would be something to share, it's from my Pastor and it pretty much sums up what I was trying to say in the days following Katrina but I thought sharing it with you would be helpful.

"We read in the Gospels that at one time Jesus told His disciples to get into a boat that was headed into a storm.  That doesn't mean that Jesus created the storm. It simply means that He knew His followers were going to go through a storm, and He gave them this promise – that they would make it to the other side.

"As I look back at these past few weeks since Hurricane Katrina, I can see that the Lord is bringing us 'all the way to the other side!' Admittedly, we have all experienced much loss and devastation. However, I see many wonderful and positive things happening that indicate to me that our people, our Church and our city will survive, and somehow be much better in the long run.

"For example, I am encouraged by how FEMA, the Red Cross, insurance companies and even creditors are really working to make things easier for all of our displaced people from New Orleans and the surrounding areas. . . . I'm even more encouraged by the way that the Church of Jesus Christ is rising up as never before to truly be the 'Body of Christ' involved in ministry. Churches and Christians from around our nation and world are ministering to people in shelters and in churches as never before.  People are welcoming others into their homes for long periods of time, helping those displaced individuals get their lives back on track. Churches and Christians are calling from all over, desiring to be involved in humanitarian efforts in our city and on the Gulf Coast, and wanting to help churches and individuals rebuild and restore their homes and facilities.  What we're experiencing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is the greatest uprising of the Church of Jesus Christ in our lifetime, and perhaps ever. . . . The Church of Jesus Christ is finally focused on 'being the Church' rather than 'experiencing Church.'

"Another thing that blesses me is that the 'wall of racism' is being breached and broken. Most people who are involved in ministering to others during this tumultuous time are doing so cross-culturally, and not allowing long-standing racial barriers to keep them from embracing and serving others.  One story that really blessed my heart was of a Church that had a reputation for being prejudiced to some degree.  One of the displaced persons they were caring for was an African-American man, whose wife died in his arms during Hurricane Katrina. The men of this particular Church have welcomed this African-American man and others into their Church, and one of their primary goals in life is to go back to New Orleans, find the body of the deceased woman, and bring her body back to bury in THEIR CEMETERY. Only God can change hearts like that, and bring good results from bad beginnings.

"Being an evangelist, I'm also excited about the number of people who are coming to the Lord as a result of this tragedy.  Our people are out sharing the gospel with people they come in contact with in their new areas of residency . . . and many people are responding to the Lord as a result of having their lives shaken by Hurricane Katrina.  In one local shelter, over 700 people responded one evening to an invitation to give their lives to the Lord.  People are now more open to the gospel than ever before! . . .

"Although it has been speculated that most of the Churches in the New Orleans area won't survive because they had inadequate flood coverage or because they cannot receive offerings from their displaced people – CELEBRATION CHURCH WILL SURVIVE AND BECOME STRONGER THAN EVER! Two days after the Hurricane, Pastor Harold Weistz from South Africa called me and said:  'Dennis, my son, I know that you are devastated.  Take heart, however, for this is your moment of destiny. This is the greatest opportunity the Church of Jesus Christ will ever have to reach and transform the city of New Orleans.' I believe that with all my heart.  I'm looking forward to see how the Lord is going to reconnect our people, restore our facilities, rebuild our Church, and enable us to resume reaching our city.  I believe that we are truly poised more than ever before as a Church to experience the Lord working through us to transform New Orleans from The City That Care Forgot to The City That Cares For God!"

It's amazing. Truly amazing what God's doing and we are ALL a part of it.

CG

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See more on New Orleans here.

For background, see the prescient Scientific American Oct. 2001 article Drowning New Orleans