Disaster - An Invitation To Transformation

Katrina's cloud had a silver lining

"You've heard about the corpses in the streets, the cars stuck in trees,
the people trapped in attics, the looting in New Orleans and the federal
government's embarrassingly slow response to Hurricane Katrina. But did you
hear about the man who was healed of deafness when a volunteer counselor
prayed for him at a refugee shelter in Dallas two weeks ago?" asks J. Lee
Grady, editor of Charisma magazine.

"Most news broadcasts about the storm have been depressing. But a thousand
small miracles have occurred since people of faith rushed to help homeless
evacuees and stranded survivors. Churches and Christian relief
organizations that have sent millions of dollars in aid to the Gulf Coast
and to evacuees nationwide. Samaritan's Purse, World Vision, Convoy of
Hope, Operation Blessing and hundreds of lesser-known charities have
partnered with local churches to provide what will be remembered as the
biggest demonstration of Christian kindness in American history." Grady
sums up a few examples:

* A 100-member congregation in Pascagoula, Mississippi, who lost their
building in the storm is feeding 3,000 people a day from their parking lot.
A Missouri church is covering the monthly payroll of a church in Slidell,
Louisiana, that was flooded. A Maryland church is offering to put 25
displaced families into homes and is chartering a jet to fly the evacuees
to Baltimore. And a church in Sri Lanka that funneled American aid to
tsunami victims recently sent a $10,000 check to Convoy of Hope to help
Katrina survivors. Mike Ennis, a Convoy official, said the Sri Lankan
pastor told him: "You guys were there for us. We want to help now."

* Trey Miller, youth pastor at Life Center, took a team of 25 teenagers to
Pascagoula, Mississippi, last weekend to help elderly people repair their
water-logged homes. Explained Miller: "One old man kept asking, 'How much
are you charging?' I told him, 'We aren't charging you anything.' He walked
around in amazement all day, and he wouldn't let go of my hand when it was
time to leave."

* The tragedy also has led to conversions. Miller said a group of Christian
men took volunteers from Mobile to operate a feeding center for storm
victims in Biloxi last week. Miller was astounded by what happened while
the men were cooking hot dogs. "One of the men who went to help just
stopped in the middle of serving the food and said: 'I can't take it any
more. I've got to get saved.' So the guys led this man to the Lord in the
parking lot of that grocery store."

* "The amount of aid coming from churches is so overwhelming that we are
not able to distribute it fast enough," said James Graham, director of
International Gospel Outreach, near Mobile. When I reached him a few days
ago, Graham was driving to Gautier, Mississippi, to deliver a shipment of
30,000 pairs of underwear along with baby food, diapers and feminine
hygiene supplies. Graham doesn't believe Katrina was the judgment of God,
but he said God spoke loud and clear through the storm: "He is telling us
that it's time to drop our denominational walls and work together," Graham
said. "The need along the Gulf Coast is making us do that."

LINK: http://www.charismanow.com

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