Thought on the ride home

Aimee Goldmeyer writes...

Here we are, rolling east out of New Orleans and reflecting on our experiences over the past week. If I could say one thing about the trip it would be that the storm affected people from all walks of life and there is still much work to be done before the city is fully revitalized, especially in the Ninth Ward and other areas more deeply flooded by the levee breaks two and a half years ago. No neighborhood directly affected by the floods has fully recovered and March is one of the busiest months for volunteers throughout the year.

Yesterday found us unloading cabinets for one of the houses that St. Charles Presbyterian Church and Habitat for Humanity will dedicate just a few days from now. For those in our group who started out initiating reconstruction work in the months right after the storm, wielding a paintbrush instead of hauling out people’s memories of life pre-Katrina brought a sense of joy to the occasion yesterday. The rest of us felt a sense of satisfaction in completing the tasks assigned to us to this week – painting, building a porch, making and installing window sills, cleaning out construction debris in preparation for interior work, and other jobs related to home construction.

Of course, when we drove away from Ferry Place at the end of the day, we left many tasks left undone and the Habitat crew continuing to work so the first completed homes will be ready for occupancy in the days ahead. Having just crossed the first state line on this journey home, I wonder who is out at the site now to continue the process of helping these partnered families find a place to restart and move forward to the next phase of their lives. Are they doing touch up work on the paint jobs, helping the work crew finish installing the cabinets, cleaning up the rooms, or something else I can’t think of at the moment? Whatever this new team of workers is doing continues the work we took over from the teams that blazed the way for our time in this city with its unique history and place here in the United States.

I also find myself remembering the frustration I felt earlier in the week as I watched my teammates return to the site on Wednesday morning while I recuperated from a close encounter with a motor scooter earlier in the week. Yes, that’s right – I got a little too close to a motor scooter while walking to the neighborhood park to enjoy a gorgeous Spring day, but that’s a story for another day. Seriously though, I came away with the idea that effective ministry to others requires time spent taking care of our own needs, particularly if we are ill, injured, or want to uphold the importance of Sabbath to congregation members or others we are entrusted with. This is a lesson I hope to carry with me as I get closer to fulfilling God’s call, lest I get so caught up in ministering to others that I forget to take care of myself – we are commanded to love others as we love ourselves after all. (Not to worry, I did get back out to the worksite on Wednesday and spent a couple of hours wielding a paintbrush before we quit for the day.)

The scenic route along the Gulf Coast that we just drove on added further insights to our understanding of how Katrina affected people across the region. To see the empty lots with or without foundations to remind us that someone used to live there, the random fence along the roadside, crews out working to restore or rebuild people’s homes, and other evidence of the storm’s impact helped us remember those outside New Orleans whose lives were forever changed too. Let us not forget those whose lives were changed by Katrina or another natural disaster.

As we continue our journey home, we carry with us new insights into the state of humanity, memories of the things we have accomplished and the people we have encountered on the way, and perhaps a broadened worldview that will make us better equipped for our unique ministries in the future. We look forward to sharing the rest of the story with you and continuing our journeys to become all that God has created us to be. May God go with you and with us until we are together again. See you on the flip side.