Building Hope 1

"''Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." Zech 4:6

Joanna and I are in Chalmette, Louisiana.
We are with one of four church groups serving with Builders For Christ to re-build First Baptist Church Chalmette, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
http://www.brookwood.org/templates/cusbrookwood/details.asp?id=23756&PID=417946

The week can be summed up into three words: Work. Eat. Sleep.
The project is behind schedule (our schedule, not God's), so many of us aren't doing the work we came prepared to do. It's all about flexibility... I came to hang drywall and I'm framing walls instead.
Most of us are housed at Hopeview - a church building renovated into a volunteer center.
The schedule is pretty straight-forward. We meet downstairs around 6:00 AM and leave for the site about 6:30. We work until 9:00, then head back to Hopeview for breakfast, work until 1:00, head back for lunch and a devotional, work until 6:00, then go back for dinner. The heat has been intense, so we've knocked off early at 4:30 the past couple days to give everyone relief.
Joanna is helping with the kitchen crew because she isn't old enough to be on the site. The food is awesome...big hearty meals - and I don't have to cook them. :o)
I expected to loose a little weight this week, but I don't think it's happening.

It isn't just about the work. We've developed many new relationships and had the opportunity to encourage each other beyond the work we're doing here. We are together all the time - so we have become close pretty quickly. The absence of routine life "stuff" has been nice, too.
Our group is from the Peninsula and two of the other groups are from Norfolk and Chesapeake, so a few of us plan to stay in touch when we leave here.

The work here is very satisfying. It feels good to work hard, sweat hard, and to have something substantial to show for it at the end of the day.
I used to work for my dad in construction and I missed it - but I didn't realize how much I miss it. I love to build. (Yes, Scott, I really love it.)

The thing that has impacted us most of all, is the state of this area and its people. That is a whole different subject...


P.S. Today I dodged a bullet, for real. A stray nail from the nail gun I was using ricocheted off my hand and whizzed past a couple unsuspecting heads as it sailed about 15 feet out the door. I felt it, too. I was sort of afraid to take off my glove. When I did, there was a small dot where the nail had broken skin. That's all. We drew an arrow to the hole in my glove and wrote "God was here" as a reminder.
It's bruised, but I'm not complaining. :o)
That's the second time He's taken a nail in the hand for me...