October 2005 - The writing on the back windows of the van says "Please pray 4 hurricane victims Gulfport Mississippi." A couple of times now that we've gotten together to plan and to talk about this upcoming trip, we've sung and clapped our way through a gospel song called "Somebody prayed for me" [...had me on their mind, took some time to pray for me...I'm so glad they prayed, I'm so glad they prayed, I'm so glad they prayed for me...] There is a giving and praying part of this trip that is so very important- namely, going in person to a place where there has been such trauma and broken hearts and saying there-in person- we're thinking of you and praying for you. That's true and important. But we're going to Mississippi to receive, too. If my time there last fall is any guide, we will receive a hundred, a thousand times what we put in.

I am anxious to go to a place where there is such need of healing, places where are our brothers and sisters are struggling, anxious to be in the middle of a huge effort. I'm anxious to do that because I want to be in the middle of situations in which I can see the Lord clearly at work. God is very, very busy in the lives of our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast-busy before, during, and after the hurricane and to this day-busy tomorrow, this summer, next year, the year after that...I want to see God at work making connections among us, I want to see God at work lifting up our brothers and sisters day to day, walking with them and carrying them through the grind of this recovery and healing. I want to take that in and take that away with me and come back to Renton and the East Hill of Kent, where I live and work, with some new glasses on, new ways to see and to respond to the hurt hearts and the crises and the grief that are all around us, but less visible in the absence of some major disaster that affects the whole population at once. My time there in October has been feeding me and my work ever since I returned, and I know that I am going to Biloxi to give and to receive.

Sound selfish? I don't mind if it does. I'm going there to say "yes, I/we have been praying for all of you." I'm also going there knowing that I/we will wind up with some more people thinking of us and praying for us, people who can witness to us about some amazing works of God. So-we all get to sing that song. We are all in this together, the Lord bringing us together for good things, working all day, every day, working in us to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13) -Pastor Glen