Chris's story

As a musician and a jazz lover, I had always wanted to see New Orleans. The news of Hurricane Katrina was a shocking wake up call to us, as we were heading home from a vacation in Oregon and re-emerging into daily civilization. Since the deadly tsunami of late 2004 in southeast Asia, Karen and I have been focused a lot more on natural disasters, and overwhelmed by their magnitude and frequency of occurrence.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the news media focused very heavily on New Orleans. I knew it had been ravaged and certainly needed the publicity and support. But when I read a My Turn article in Newsweek Magazine one morning, I received a specific burden for what was to me a very unexpected place: Biloxi, Mississippi. Reading the article, I was deeply moved by the harsh reality that this entire coastal community had been obliterated in the wake of Katrina’s winds. Historic landmarks, beautiful antebellum homes, many people’s entire lives, and an entire piece of our nation’s cultural heritage had been swept away for good.

I was out on a walk with my family one evening shortly after this, strolling past the framework of what was to become the new Student Union and Recreation Center on the Central Washington University campus. This is the building in which the University’s campus radio station I manage is now located. By then, we had been feverishly redesigning our radio station facility and planning its move into the new building for nearly three years. It was a task of epic proportion that fell largely on our full-time staff of (at that time) only two…myself and one other co-worker, to accomplish. As great and grandiose as this new building and broadcast facility were to become, I remember telling Karen on that walk that my heart was elsewhere. I wanted to put my time and energy into the South, where people were thankful for merely a roof over their heads, let alone a 228,000 square foot shopping mall-like facility.

When a pastor from our local church announced he was taking a group of people to Biloxi, Mississippi over Spring Break, 2006, I was amazed. The pieces for me were starting to fit together. I definitely wanted to go, but for a couple weeks after that I made up excuses in my mind of why I really couldn’t go, not the least of which was my busy work schedule and the fact that we were in the final phases of moving into our new broadcast facility.

Nevertheless, the calling was made clear, as my supervisor and several other co-workers saw in me the need to go. They knew I would be miserable and would have forever been asking “what if?” had I not gone. The week our team spent in Biloxi was very eye-opening. All along the Mississippi coast line is utter devastation—an unbelievable and horrific site. God really used our team, and the people whose homes we worked to clean up and rebuild were truly grateful. My prayer on the plane trip down was: “Lord, I’m available. Use me for your purposes.”

He truly answered that prayer. I now have a few people with whom I’m in regular contact in the Biloxi area. Coming home was actually a bit of a shock. For more than a week, I’d gotten used to seeing leveled homes, or, if the structure was still standing, just the framework of what used to be a home. Returning to my own front porch and opening the front door, my jaw dropped to the floor. We actually had a house! It has walls, and a roof! Wow! It also looked huge, though by contemporary American standards, it is actually a starter home. I am truly grateful to have had the experience last year in Mississippi. We certainly want to re-visit the Mississippi coast during our trip down South.

In the meantime, we are also truly blessed to have been so warmly welcomed by the Baton Rouge Ministry Center and New Hope Alliance in New Orleans. The pastoral staff at both churches have a real heart for families coming to serve and partake in their ministries, and it will give us an eye-opening look at the needs still remaining in Louisiana. Every region has its own unique needs. We know the need for restoration throughout the southern states is tremendous and will remain for a long time to come. We thank God for this open door He has provided for our entire family to serve. Though I may never see the New Orleans I had always wanted to see, I know now, more importantly, that I will see the New Orleans God has intended for me to see.