In the New York Times this morning I read that those closer to the disaster are going to have to be the ones to describe it. We're not even close--we're an eight-hour drive from New Orleans. Yet evacuees are pouring into our town seeking refuge. We will do our best to provide it for them. To give you a taste of the Ripple Effect from the hurricane/flood, here's a letter I sent to my family on the West Coast last night:

Loved ones,

It has been quite a week, hasn't it?

Our friend Jeni, whose mom and step-dad live on the coast of Alabama, rejoiced on Wednesday to finally have word that they were safe. They lost the house and the second car, but they were alive. They are now camping on the ground that used to be their lawn, trying to make sure looters don't take the few valuables left that were stored high enough to escape the water.

Laura, my teaching assistant for a writing class I teach at DTS, waited and waited for word on her grandma. Thursday afternoon she vomited after class from the stress. Finally on Friday afternoon she learned that her grama had, indeed, not made it. That was all she knew when she had the class papers sent by courier to me and took off to meet her parents in Beaumont, where they had taken refuge. Her parents lost everything.

Our friend Teresa collected clothes up at our church tonight for her sister, who is housing ten family members in Baton Rouge. As the post office is closed until Tuesday, one of the men said he'd drive them down in his pick-up. So we're sending them in the morning with clothes, and especially underwear and toiletries. Oh, and diapers.

Sis Mary has been told that her 4th grade class, already pretty full, will probably expand again come Tuesday, as Texas schools have agreed to immediately absorb the stranded kids. Our daughter, too, has been told she will have new classmates. She was asked to bring cans of spaghetti sauce and juice. As of yesterday, Mesquite had absorbed about 1,000 [the figure is now at 2,500] people, with more heading our way. The clerk at Wal-Mart tonight told us that they had sold a lot of bedding and food today.

Those of us on the seminary faculty were told Friday that our administration has agreed to take students from the two seminaries in New Orleans and give them free tuition. Of course these students will need housing, as well. (I'll be coordinating that with our church; three families tonight told me they'll open their homes.)

We had a meeting at church tonight to try to coordinate our efforts. The city government had called and asked if they could send people to our food pantry. One family they mentioned is housing 19 relatives indefinitely.

The plan we're working out at this point is for the Christian camps in the area to open. (They need 400 sets of sheets or sleeping bags and pillows!) Because we're already back in school, the camps are empty, so it's the easiest way to make sure everybody gets beds and meals and bearable temps. After that we focus on jobs. A virtually empty mall within fifteen minutes from here is housing a lot of people, too. Tomorrow we plan to go with a team to the first of two camps our church has "adopted." Click here: Sabine Creek Ranch and Click here: Camp El Har Home Page

Lots of people need your continued prayers...including us as we seek to do the very small part we can.