I was just watching the news and was horrified to hear of a heartwrenching story. Katrina has caused a lot of damage not only to the city but to families. Last Wednesday night at Church in the Youth class we were shown some pictures of the wrath of Katrina and asked to express what our thoughts were on those. One of the pictures was this one and the thing that came to my mind were the houses that are immersed in water. In those houses were once families going

about their daily activities. Now these mothers, fathers, baby girls and boys, grandmas and grandpas and little sisters and brothers have now been for some torn apart. They are now dispersed all of the states trying to fathom what happened and where they go from here. This trajedy has taken place only about 7 -8 hours from here and only 4 hours from where I am from. This is not across the world that this has happened. My heart is gripped with much sadness for the despairing hearts who are still out there just waiting for help to come pull them out of this watery hell. The story that I heard this morning was about a man who commited suicide because he feared his family dead and couldn't bare the thought of going on with out them. The extremely sad thing is that his family was not dead but safe. He killed himself because he thought they were dead and now they are left with out him. I just can't imagine how his family feels knowing that he was safe, survived the hurricane but then took his own life. That is a tragedy in a tragedy. And there are so many stories of pain, grief, dispair, and there will be more as they continue to find the bodies that have passed. May God be with all of these people, families. May they turn their eyes up to God for their strength in the times to come. Trusting in Him to bring good out of all of this. May His light shine in this dark hour in their lives.

God bless those who have been affected by Katrina. My heart is in deep pain for you and it yearns to be there to help you. You will all be on my heart, in my thoughts and in my prayers.

Prayer is vital in this time for them. I read this the other day and thought it was worth sharing.

Hurricane Katrina:A Christian Response to Natural DisasterBy Byron Paulus
The catastrophe along the Gulf Coast has left us stunned. My eyes filled with tears last night as I joined millions of others who watched the interview of a man with two little boys describing how floodwaters tore his wife's hand away from his grasp. Her farewell expressions of love for her children and grandchildren wrenched my soul.
It is a colossal nightmare. Beyond imagination. And beyond our collective ability to immediately solve. That is not easy for a nation adrift in self-sufficiency.
How should we, as believers, respond to this tragedy?
In genuine love and deep compassion. Not only should our hearts go out, but so should our resources.
• Our most vital resource is PRAYER.
As the floodwaters were still rising, the governor of Louisiana declared a day of prayer. It seems her plea was carefully constructed when she said, “I know, by praying together . . . that we can pull together and draw strength we need; strength, that only God can give us.” Whether she realized it or not, she delineated four vitally important aspects of prayer:
• Prayer unites – It is true in marriages, in churches, and in cities.
• Prayer strengthens – Hope comes when we seek something bigger than ourselves.
• Prayer humbles – It is a confession and expression of our need
• Prayer exalts – It elevates God to His rightful place of power.
As we pray for those affected by this disaster, our hearts will unite with them and hope will surface. We will also realize “apart from God we can do nothing,” but “with God all things are possible.” The God who caused the floodwaters to rise can cause them to disappear.
• We must get involved.
God has given all of us some way of helping. It may be using our gifts and abilities. It may be physically volunteering. It may be donating money to relief efforts. It may be offering to help refugees to get started all over again. We cannot simply call ourselves Christians and ignore those in need.
• We must declare God's ways.
It is not always possible to discern why God allows or causes natural disasters to occur. We know from scripture that He does (Col.1:16-17; Dt.11:17; James 5:17; Num. 16:30-34; Rom.8:19-21). It is much easier to understand what it should accomplish in our own heart and in the soul of a community or nation. Nahum 1:3 says, “God has His way in the whirlwind and storm.” What are some of His ways.
• Natural disasters can be a reminder that we cannot expect on earth what is reserved for us in heaven. We live in a world that suffers from the consequences of sin, whether it be evil deeds of man or the effect of the fall upon creation.
• God is sovereign in all He ways. We cannot say God was completely passive and could not have prevented what took place. God is completely aware and active in the course of nature. “For from Him, and through Him and to Him are all things . . . ” (Rom. 11:36).
• God is good and redemptive in all His ways. The “goodness” of God is always a valid truth . . . in good times and bad. He has extraordinary ways of transforming adverse events into eternal benefit (Rom. 8:28-29; Isa. 61:1-3). We need to prioritize God's redemptive purposes in times of loss.
• Judgment is real. God sometimes uses physical means to judge sin. More souls were hurt, lives lost, marriages destroyed, and economic hardship incurred the past decades in the casinos and strip joints on the Gulf Coast than all those affected by Katrina. We cannot say God is just and holy and then question why He would allow communities characterized by sin to experience consequences. A better question might be, “Why is God's mercy so great that our entire nation has not suffered the same degree of consequence?”
• The just and unjust are both subject to God's ways — When God sends judgment, He does not limit it to only the wicked (Mt. 5:45). He blesses and curses both the just and the unjust, because we live in the context of community.
• Opportunities to serve. Another reason God allows crisis of this nature is to provide visible opportunities for Christ's love and compassion to be manifest through His church.
This brief commentary is not intended to provide a thorough theological treatment of these issues. BUT it is intended to motivate all of us to seek the Lord in how we should respond in a Christ-like way in light of Katrina.
Here at Life Action, we are partnering with a local church forty miles outside New Orleans, in a city that is serving as a staging area for relief efforts. Funds are going directly to the front lines to help people cope with this disaster. From conducting the funeral for a six-week old baby, to purchasing diapers, they are providing strategic help. Much time is being devoted to counseling refugees, pointing them to a holy God who loves them deeply.
The seeds of revival are never more fertile than during periods of persecution and difficulty. And our love is never more loudly expressed than when we embrace the cross as we sacrifice on behalf of others.Byron Paulus is the Executive Director of Life Action Ministries. For more information, go to www.LifeAction.org.