Okay, it's not Friday, it's Sunday, and we're all back home - safe, sound, worn out, and deeply gratifide - because Friday was a very good day at Camp Gulfside. All four teams rose early and left enthusiastically for one last day of work, then returned in the evening with stories of a life-changing experience.
Our last full day ended with a real Thanksgiving meal - we're talking turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, and more - and then we shared THE Thanksgiving meal - Holy Communion.
But between the two Thanksgivings, we all sat in one big circle and passed a hammer. When a person was holding the hammer, it was his or her turn to say what the Katrina Rebuild experience had meant for him/her. Most of the participants had never been on a mission trip before, and most of those expressed some trepidation in joining the team to begin with...and each of those persons said, in one way or another, "I am SO glad that I did this. I am SO glad that (insert a name here) said, 'you really should do this'."
The summary of all remarks was, in my words, that we all felt like this is what it really means to be the church, to put our faith to work, with no expectation for a return, and yet we all felt as though we received at least as much or more than we gave.
The picture at the top of this entry shows the sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico, taken as our team was leaving yesterday from the driveway of our camp in Waveland, Mississippi. I place it here because I trust that divine hope has dawned for the people who suffered the most from Katrina, and because the realization that we can be signs of that hope has dawned in our hearts and minds, as well.
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