I've got that song stuck in my head---Blessed Be Your Name--i think it is called...i really like it, partly because of the beautiful melody and music, but partly too because of how purely worshipful the song is. It basically says that God is always good and blessed and we should worship him for that reason alone besides all the other stuff he does for us. Cool.
so...today is Sunday and church started at 10 this morning. The church here is about half the size it was before Katrina but they are all wonderful loving people. i find myself just grinning because they love each other and God so much...something I'm really impressed with though is their willingness to admit weaknesses, problems, and ask for help and prayers. That could come from the necessity of working together to rebuild and i think whatever caused it, it's good. I met several new people today. One was Michael, whom KT and Laura talked to for a while. He's been to church a couple times and James, the long haired guy from Ohio who has such a good heart but seems so afraid of church, said that Michael came the other day and just broke down in tears when James asked if there was anything we could do for him. Michael says that his house is still in shambles and he doesn't know how to get it all together. Laura was talking with him about the fact that God can't fix everything that's wrong but he can change your attitude towards it so that you can be happy in the face of trials and problems because you know that He's going to take care of you...we just may not be able to see the end result for a while.
I think that I have a lot to work on. I don't really know how to just go up to someone and engage them in a meaningful conversation from the start, i never have been that good at dealing with emotional situations and I need to start right now learning how to really show people that I care and I want to help them. Also that I'm not above needing help as well. I need to learn how to present myself to people not as a person seeking something for myself, but as someone with an offer of friendship and love no matter who they are. I think hugs are important
Yesterday we drove around a lot and it was fun...we got to see some gorgeous old parts of New Orleans and I just pray that another hurricane doesn't come through because there are lots of places that are just too beautiful to lose, but then i guess war has wiped out lots of those in other places in the world so who am i to try and stave off nature?
isn't that always an interesting question? why is nature destructive? or is it really? i don't know...nature could be the constructive one and we are destructive and we just don't see it that way...odd
I dreamt about Blair last night in several different dreams...it makes me sad because i miss him so much and i almost don't want to think about him so I can push away the ache, but then thinking about him is healing and soothing too. I'm extraordinarily lucky to have him.
there are quite a number of kids in the church which is such a blessing and brings a lot of life to it...i hope we get to work with them. I like Fred Franke more and more too...he's a lot like an organized Karnes in some ways...haha, that makes me laugh.
Had jambalaya today, but now Blair and I are fasting so no more until tomorrow lunch