Minutes to Memories

No, this wasn't a picture from the worship assembly at the Ocean Springs Church of Christ this morning. :-)

Instead, this was from a jamming concert featuring the North Mississippi Allstars this afternoon, after a HUGE event combining the end of the first-ever Americorps Week with the kickoff of the Habitat for Humanity Build-a-Thon. 500 Americorps Habitat volunteers will join with many other volunteers to build 20 houses from scratch in Gulfport this week!

Quick side note: I highly recommend checking out the North Mississippi Allstars. They are a cool combination of rock 'n roll meets the blues with a little touch of country thrown in. Check them out!

But... back to the event. Lots of speeches preceded the concert, but lots of really good words were shared. I've always had a lot of respect for the Americorps program, but I've never been in a room with hundreds of them all at once! While some were in their later years, most were college-age, and seeing these leaders of tomorrow gathered together at such a tender age was a moving experience all by itself.

If you're not well-versed in Americorps, check them out, too.

But tonight, after our evening devotional at the Ocean Springs Church of Christ, came the sweetest part of the day. Hillary has a great friend named Alexis. A while back now, we came to find out that Alexis's awesome family still had not rebuilt their house following Katrina. The storm brought nine feet of water through their house and destroyed everything. A group of elderly Lutheran volunteers gutted their house, but it sat empty for well over a year. Many people wonder why people didn't rebuild more quickly, but there's this important factor called: money. No insurance help. No FEMA help. No church help. Just waiting and waiting.

The government grant system became their only hope, and they kept waiting and waiting on that. When we found out about their plight, our elders were able to offer some financial assistance to help this great family get started. Finally, the grant came through, and three weeks ago our new friends moved into their house.

Tonight, I had the honor - per their request - of coming over and saying a prayer of blessing for their resurrected house. They fed us strawberry shortcake, we shared wonderful conversation, and then we had the privilege of holding hands and sitting in a circle - their family of four, ours of three, and two grandparents - and giving God thanks and asking for his protection.

New friends.

What an absolutely wonderful way to end a day.