October 2005- a backyard in Biloxi or Gulfport-I don't recall which side of the line we were on. This neighborhood is just south of the railroad tracks. The home we were working on was being gutted by the owners, and we worked to clean up the yard. This cleanup included not only branches and shingles but also the personal property of the owners and of other, unknown people-all kinds of things. We spent a couple of hours working in the yard before the end of our working day. It seemed that we barely made a dent in the mess, and when we left we could look down that street and see dozens of other homes in much the same state as this one. It certainly isn't something we can put our names on and talk about any kind of feeling of accomplishment upon leaving. There's a part of me that would like to make a detailed report- so many pounds of stuff removed from a yard, etc. I want to see the before and after pictures. I want the impact of what we do to be very clear when we come back to tell the story of this trip.

This month, we're talking about giving something like 1100 hours to the recovery effort. Even though there is work everywhere to be done, there will be times, I'm sure, when we will not be able to see evidence that we are making a difference. In the case of our work in the home in this picture, we were able to give about 8 person-hours. That's the part we can count. However, we also were able to say to the homeowners that we came from far away, that we and people back home had been thinking of and praying for our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. That part of the impact of our work is harder to count. I ran around the Mississippi Gulf Coast for ten days with a nametag that indicated that I was from WA, and I didn't count the number of times that I greeted people- in line at the market, every other place- and became one more person who had come from far away to help. The effect of that is very hard to count- I heard over and over how astounded people were at the number of church members from around the U.S. who had come down to help-and also how amazed people were at the efficiency of church-based disaster response. In the month between hurricane Katrina landfall and my arrival there, so much work had been done, so many connections made.

Want to be able to count the impact of our being in Biloxi? Since we have 23 going this time, I would think that we would have 23 times the impact that I did in October of last year. I suspect, though, that it's more likely to grow by a power of 23. There's the impact that we're able to see and to report. There are other effects, though- especially things going on in the hearts of people who will see pictures and hear our stories- that only the Lord knows about. I'm giving thanks to God now for the chance to simply be part of such a vast, enormous work of healing. -Pastor Glen