Hurricane Rita Update
Dear Praying Friends,
Just a quick update and a chance to "touch base" after Rita!
Rita came in on Saturday morning around 2-3 A.M. very near and alittle East of the Texas / Louisiana State Lines. The winds had come down to around 120-125 mph and the pressure had gone up considerably ...I think this was a specific answer to prayer! We had prayed specifically on Wednesday night for this to happen and had continued praying for this through the rest of the week .... Praise the Lord for His goodness!
I talked to Ray Cummings from Lake Park Chapel in Belle Chasse, LA. and to Bill (William O.) Walker of Southside Bible Chapel in Lafayette, LA. (the closest meeting to the landfall) and both meetings did fine with NO damage ... just a lot of trash blown around. The storm DID cause a lot of damage of course in that area of Southwest Louisiana but the news reported today that (as of that report) NO lives had been lost! Praise the Lord again! The rising waters also caused 3 Levees to be breached again in New Orleans and in Southwest Louisiana and we had some additional flooding here in Slidell ... just TOO MUCH water and too little drainage capability. However, most of what was flooded had been flooded before and so there was minimal damage other than the devastation from the first flooding from Katrina!
In this last storm (Rita) as in the previous one (Katrina), we are brought again to recognize and appreciate the incredible power of prayer and of His goodness in the lives of the just and the unjust alike!
We "declared today an OFF DAY" so JoAnne and I and one of the visiting workers made a trip over to Gulfport, Mississippi to visit our daughter Nita and two of her boys. The high winds from Rita had blown the tarps off her roof and it had again rained in ... so I worked with her boys and their friend to get the tarps put back in place and do a little additional tarping. Trying to hold those big tarps down in the strong winds while we tried to nail them gave a real appreciation of the strength of the forces of nature and the frailty of us humans. It's really AMAZING that anything stands in such storms!
We then came back to Slidell and spent some time with our latest crew of helpers down from Wisconsin and Iowa ... Praise the Lord for the family of God! We COULD NOT do these repairs without the help of you all.. you bring encouragement, strength, ability, knowledge ... and a myriad of other things to the table that we don't have! Thank you again SO much... for you!
Well, it was GOOD "seeing" you all at the throne of grace today (well ... at least we pictured it that way with our "faith eyes") ...what a time it was ... huh! When I think of all the (unsaved) years I spent in "the big church" just doing the ritual ... stand up ... sit down... kneel ... stand up again ... read this ... sing that ... it was all very religious ... just it just lacked the "reality" the Lord intended it to have! How precious to just sit and enjoy HIM! We had some visitor /workers here with us again who could actually sing! Some of the Saints from Sala Evangelica were with us too and they seemed to sing well too (maybe it's just me who can't sing!)! We thought "WE" sounded very good!! What a great time it was ... how glad we are that you all could share it with us!
Ever since this has happened, I keep thinking of an old story that I was either told or read somewhere when I was first saved and brought into fellowship in the assembly ... it goes something like this (please forgive me if you've heard it a million times and I'm boring you to tears with it): It seems a man moved to a new town and was trying to decide where to go to church. He decided that a good way to decide the best church was to go to the town square and ask folks as they passed by. Well there was a terrible storm that night, but the next morning the man got up and headed down to the square to see who was going where! So he did, and shortly a well dressed lady came by in a hurry. He asked herwhere she was going in such a hurry and she told him about her church ...it seems her church had a WONDERFUL pipe organ and choir and when they sang and played it was almost like hearing the angels of heaven ... it was SO wonderful ... she didn't want to miss a second of it so off she hastened. Next a man came along and the man stopped him and asked his destination and the man responded that he was going to his church which had a FANTASTIC stained glass window behind the pulpit .. the sun came up and shown through the stained glass and it was like the light of the Lord shining down on you as you sat there and gazed at the window ... and off he ran! Next a young couple came by and told him that they were heading to the Reverend Doctor so and so's church who was renown as one of the finest orators and scholors in the land and they would just "hang on every word" every time he spoke ... they didn't want to miss his introduction so they rushed along. Finally, a little man with a big thick Bible came along and he said that he was on his way to a little storefront where a few Christians were going to gather to remember the Lord Jesus who died for them ... it wouldn't be fancy ... just a loaf and a cup ... but he couldn't wait to be there with the Lord ... and off he went! Well time passed and pretty soon the people started drifting back... VERY down and discouraged ... every one! It seems that the storm had caused a lot of changes. The power was out so the pipe organ didn't workand the choir just didn't sound the same without those great pipes sounding out their melodious tunes! And the stained glass window had a tree branch through it and it was SUCH a discouragement every time you looked up and saw it that you couldn't even concentrate on the message at all! And the "Reverend Doctor" had been out all night in the storm and had gotten a sore throat ... he could hardly speak and the message somehow just didn't seem to have the same "punch" to it! All were VERY discouraged by their experience that morning!!! Pretty soon the little man with the big Bible came along. The man asked him how it had gone with his group after the devistation of the storm the night before? Oh... the man said ... it was WONDERFUL ... maybe the best ever! The power was out, you know, so the hall was dark. One of the men lit a candle and placed it up by the bread and the cup. We couldn't read our hymnals, the man said, so we just sang hymns we knew by heart! We quoted scripture from memory and just told the Lord in a simple way how much he meant to us! Then we broke the bread and took the cup ... on of the men closed in prayer ... and it was over for another week! It was SO good, I almost wish we had a storm like that every week ... and off he went! Well ...which "church" do you suppose the man went to the next week? I know where I'd have been ... right where I was today!!!
Well ... the surroundings may change ... the comforts may vary... but in the end ... the remembrance of Him stays the same and has ever since that first night in the upper room!
Our very special love to you all,
Bob & JoAnne Brown - Slidell, Louisiana
Just a quick update and a chance to "touch base" after Rita!
Rita came in on Saturday morning around 2-3 A.M. very near and alittle East of the Texas / Louisiana State Lines. The winds had come down to around 120-125 mph and the pressure had gone up considerably ...I think this was a specific answer to prayer! We had prayed specifically on Wednesday night for this to happen and had continued praying for this through the rest of the week .... Praise the Lord for His goodness!
I talked to Ray Cummings from Lake Park Chapel in Belle Chasse, LA. and to Bill (William O.) Walker of Southside Bible Chapel in Lafayette, LA. (the closest meeting to the landfall) and both meetings did fine with NO damage ... just a lot of trash blown around. The storm DID cause a lot of damage of course in that area of Southwest Louisiana but the news reported today that (as of that report) NO lives had been lost! Praise the Lord again! The rising waters also caused 3 Levees to be breached again in New Orleans and in Southwest Louisiana and we had some additional flooding here in Slidell ... just TOO MUCH water and too little drainage capability. However, most of what was flooded had been flooded before and so there was minimal damage other than the devastation from the first flooding from Katrina!
In this last storm (Rita) as in the previous one (Katrina), we are brought again to recognize and appreciate the incredible power of prayer and of His goodness in the lives of the just and the unjust alike!
We "declared today an OFF DAY" so JoAnne and I and one of the visiting workers made a trip over to Gulfport, Mississippi to visit our daughter Nita and two of her boys. The high winds from Rita had blown the tarps off her roof and it had again rained in ... so I worked with her boys and their friend to get the tarps put back in place and do a little additional tarping. Trying to hold those big tarps down in the strong winds while we tried to nail them gave a real appreciation of the strength of the forces of nature and the frailty of us humans. It's really AMAZING that anything stands in such storms!
We then came back to Slidell and spent some time with our latest crew of helpers down from Wisconsin and Iowa ... Praise the Lord for the family of God! We COULD NOT do these repairs without the help of you all.. you bring encouragement, strength, ability, knowledge ... and a myriad of other things to the table that we don't have! Thank you again SO much... for you!
Well, it was GOOD "seeing" you all at the throne of grace today (well ... at least we pictured it that way with our "faith eyes") ...what a time it was ... huh! When I think of all the (unsaved) years I spent in "the big church" just doing the ritual ... stand up ... sit down... kneel ... stand up again ... read this ... sing that ... it was all very religious ... just it just lacked the "reality" the Lord intended it to have! How precious to just sit and enjoy HIM! We had some visitor /workers here with us again who could actually sing! Some of the Saints from Sala Evangelica were with us too and they seemed to sing well too (maybe it's just me who can't sing!)! We thought "WE" sounded very good!! What a great time it was ... how glad we are that you all could share it with us!
Ever since this has happened, I keep thinking of an old story that I was either told or read somewhere when I was first saved and brought into fellowship in the assembly ... it goes something like this (please forgive me if you've heard it a million times and I'm boring you to tears with it): It seems a man moved to a new town and was trying to decide where to go to church. He decided that a good way to decide the best church was to go to the town square and ask folks as they passed by. Well there was a terrible storm that night, but the next morning the man got up and headed down to the square to see who was going where! So he did, and shortly a well dressed lady came by in a hurry. He asked herwhere she was going in such a hurry and she told him about her church ...it seems her church had a WONDERFUL pipe organ and choir and when they sang and played it was almost like hearing the angels of heaven ... it was SO wonderful ... she didn't want to miss a second of it so off she hastened. Next a man came along and the man stopped him and asked his destination and the man responded that he was going to his church which had a FANTASTIC stained glass window behind the pulpit .. the sun came up and shown through the stained glass and it was like the light of the Lord shining down on you as you sat there and gazed at the window ... and off he ran! Next a young couple came by and told him that they were heading to the Reverend Doctor so and so's church who was renown as one of the finest orators and scholors in the land and they would just "hang on every word" every time he spoke ... they didn't want to miss his introduction so they rushed along. Finally, a little man with a big thick Bible came along and he said that he was on his way to a little storefront where a few Christians were going to gather to remember the Lord Jesus who died for them ... it wouldn't be fancy ... just a loaf and a cup ... but he couldn't wait to be there with the Lord ... and off he went! Well time passed and pretty soon the people started drifting back... VERY down and discouraged ... every one! It seems that the storm had caused a lot of changes. The power was out so the pipe organ didn't workand the choir just didn't sound the same without those great pipes sounding out their melodious tunes! And the stained glass window had a tree branch through it and it was SUCH a discouragement every time you looked up and saw it that you couldn't even concentrate on the message at all! And the "Reverend Doctor" had been out all night in the storm and had gotten a sore throat ... he could hardly speak and the message somehow just didn't seem to have the same "punch" to it! All were VERY discouraged by their experience that morning!!! Pretty soon the little man with the big Bible came along. The man asked him how it had gone with his group after the devistation of the storm the night before? Oh... the man said ... it was WONDERFUL ... maybe the best ever! The power was out, you know, so the hall was dark. One of the men lit a candle and placed it up by the bread and the cup. We couldn't read our hymnals, the man said, so we just sang hymns we knew by heart! We quoted scripture from memory and just told the Lord in a simple way how much he meant to us! Then we broke the bread and took the cup ... on of the men closed in prayer ... and it was over for another week! It was SO good, I almost wish we had a storm like that every week ... and off he went! Well ...which "church" do you suppose the man went to the next week? I know where I'd have been ... right where I was today!!!
Well ... the surroundings may change ... the comforts may vary... but in the end ... the remembrance of Him stays the same and has ever since that first night in the upper room!
Our very special love to you all,
Bob & JoAnne Brown - Slidell, Louisiana
posted by Shawn Abigail at 5:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home