The Narrow Gate: Day 315 - Good Day Sunshine

The Narrow Gate

Welcome to the continuation of my blog, post-seminary. Ministry and evangelism have brought me back home to Chattanooga. I welcome your company on my journey.

The original blog, Down In Mississippi, shared stories from 2008 and 2009 of the hope and determination of people in the face of disaster wrought by the hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, of work done primarily by volunteers from churches across America and with financial support of many aid agencies and private donations and the Church. My Mississippi posts really ended with the post of August 16, 2009. Much work, especially for the neediest, remained undone after the denominational church pulled out. Such is the nature of institutions. The world still needs your hands for a hand up. I commend to you my seven stories, Down in Mississippi I -VII, at the bottom of this page and the blog posts. They describe an experience of grace.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Day 315 - Good Day Sunshine

Well today was a mix of good and difficult as usual. One nice thing about this work is you usually get a bit of good to brighten the bit of darkness in the day, sort of a sweet and sour situation.

It was a rushed day though, I had to help get some things straightened out in Texas, help an associate pull together some statistics on cases we've closed for headquarters, had to go by a client's house in Gulfport to pick up some left over materials and get them back to the village, and drive to Pearlington for the above and to pick up paint swatches for a client in Gulfport that got carried to Pearlington by mistake - and then I stopped by the gym to ride the stationary bike for 40 minutes.

I went over to oversee the removal of a roof on the poor woman's home who has ben so seriously taken advantage of in Pearlington. It is a hard problem. It looks like she may file a complaint with the attorney general - maybe that will do something.

I got a call late in the day from a member of the Hancock County Resource Committee. He was asking about a case in Bay Saint Louis that his records indicate we are the work partner. It was late in the day and I didn't recognize the name, it may date back over a year.

It was a compliment for my organization to be called, it takes a while to build confidence in this local community.

Also, keep our friend Jeremy in your prayers as he struggles with an illness.

Grace and Peace.

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Gates

The gate pervades the Good News. Peter entered the temple gate after the Jesus’ arrest to deny him. Poor Lazarus lay at the rich man's gate, longing for the crumb's from the table, while dogs licked his sores. The blind, lame and paralyzed lay at the Sheep Gate at the Jerusalem temple waiting at the pool with five porticoes for healing water. Jesus warned of the easy road and wide gate to material ease and spiritual destruction and calls us to the hard road and narrow gate to the waters of life.

necessary disclaimer

This blog is created solely to communicate to my brothers and sisters how one person sees adversity bringing out the greater character of humanity. It's early part relating connection to the volunteer relief effort in Mississippi after Katrina and later work with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Program and the Presbyterian Church(USA) is solely through my participation in them; this blog does not carry any sponsorship from these fine organizations or purport to speak for them. All original content is that of the writer who holds the copyright to all original writings and art or other works (See Creative Commons License above). Every effort is made to identify content from other sources which have been obtained from open internet sources. It's more recent content contains sermons and lessons used in preaching and teaching. The url to scripture are obtained via http://bible.oremus.org unless otherwise indicated.

Texts quoted from oremus bible viewer are from "New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved." and "New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved."