Katrina gathered Sunday, September 4, to praise the Lord they believe is still in control amid death and destruction and reports that "thousands" died.
At least 22 churches were believed to be destroyed beyond repair Sunday, September 4, but at what was once Biloxi’s Episcopal Church, Mississippi’s Coast symbol, Christians held a worship service.
Along the Mississippi coast, worshippers brought chairs and blankets for makeshift services on the scarred earth where churches once stood. Inside Reunion Arena in Dallas, 16 evacuees wearing pink ID bracelets joined hands in a circle to sing "Amazing Grace."
"This isn’t about (federal) money or about trying to rebuild. It’s about souls, God," said the Rev. James Millsaps, an evacuee who led the impromptu arena service, according to The Associated Press (AP) news agency.
THOUSANDS KILLED
It is unclear yet how many people were killed by Hurricane Katrina and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are hidden in attics, floating in the ruined city, crumpled in wheelchairs, abandoned on highways, the Associated Press (AP) reported from New Orleans. "I think it’s evident it’s in the thousands," Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Sunday on the Cable News Network (CNN).
Survivors were still being plucked from roofs and shattered highways across the city. President George W. Bush ordered more than 7,000 active duty forces to the Gulf Coast on Saturday.
In the last week, Joseph Brant lost his apartment, walked by scores of dead in the streets, traversed pools of toxic water and endured an arduous journey to escape the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in his hometown New Orleans.
On Sunday, September 4, he was praising the Lord, saying the ordeal was a test that ended up dispelling his lifelong distrust of white people and setting his life on a new course, Reuters news agency reported. He said he hitched a ride on Friday, September 2, in a van driven by a group of white folks.
"WHITE COMPLEX"
"Before this whole thing I had a complex about white people; this thing changed me forever," reportedly said Brant, 36, a truck driver who, like many of the refugees receiving public assistance in Houston, Texas, is black.
"It was a spiritual experience for me, man," he added of the aftermath of a catastrophe al Qaeda-linked Web sites called evidence of the "wrath of God" striking an arrogant America.
At the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, only a handful of evacuees gathered for a morning service, but the Rev. Mose A. Jones exhorted loudly and tirelessly, encouraging the displaced flock of eight with a spirited sermon, news reports said. "When you go through your tough day, don’t forget to worship the one who created the day," said Jones, backed by a six-member worship team from Greater Hope Missionary Baptist Church. "Anybody who can bless God in the middle of a bad situation (has) to have faith in God."
GOD IN NEW ORLEANS
"Just like God was with you in New Orleans, God is with you in Houston, Texas," he reportedly added to cheers and applause. "My brothers and sister, this is not the end of the story. If you hold on to God’s unchanging hand, you will get twice as much as you had before the day began."
It was a message that was not lost on Jody Collins, 46, of St. Bernard, just outside of New Orleans.
"I know God allowed this to happen for a reason, and it is up to us to figure it out," said Collins, who lost his home, two trucks, a boat, and his lawn care business in the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.
"I know what the reason is for me," Collins added. "Basically what I feared in life was losing everything I had. Now I don’t have to worry about it anymore because it is all gone. God solved that problem for me."
HUNGARY PRAYS
Hours earlier, Christians across the globe were praying for the victims, including half a world away in Budapest, Hungary’s capital and the headquarters of Christian news agency BosNewsLife.
Christians at the evangelical oriented International Church of Budapest prayed for what was New Orleans. Believers prayed that the devastation of Katrina would be replaced by a storm of the Holy Spirit.
"We don’t know why it happened, perhaps sin had to do with it, and the hurricane just hit before the planned Gay Parade. But right now we should pray that God will move in that city. Let’s not forget there are Christians among these people, but also those who don’t know Him yet personally," added Pastor Glenn Ford, an American who himself survived at least one hurricane.
Hungary, a former Communist country, also sends Baptist aid workers to the region, BosNewsLife learned.
WORLD COUNCIL
The World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 347 churches over 120 countries, said its members were also praying for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in America’s modern history.
"The whole fellowship of the World Council of Churches unites in prayer for the people, leaders and churches of the United States," said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a statement to BosNewsLife News Center.
"We pray for those who mourn, who suffer, who search for meaning. We pray the time will come when even those who are now most troubled in spirit will rediscover the hope of resurrection. We pray for those who have perished and are already safe within God’s eternal keeping," he added.
SOLIDARITY PLEDGED
Kobia stressed the WCC pledged "solidarity with those who have begun the task of rebuilding broken walls and restoring stricken lives. In particular, we hold in our prayers all the church relief agencies, workers and volunteers who are struggling to assist those in need."
The WCC leader urged those effected by the tragedy, including Christians, to remember Bible verse Hebrews 13:20-21: "May the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good, that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever…" (With Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from the United States).
