Central Gulf Coast Mopping Up

As of September 30th, here is the situation in the Central Gulf Coast:

Ø The Diocesan Office in Pensacola lost the roof and had major damage. The building will have to be gutted, and they don't expect to be back in it for nine months.

Ø The Diocesan office is now set up at St. Christopher's, Pensacola. The phone number is 850-434-7337.

Ø Most of the Episcopal churches fared pretty well during the storm. Downtown Pensacola was very hard hit and most businesses are gone. Lack of power is a big issue. Main roads are at least partially open and access for those coming to help or bring supplies should not be a problem.

Ø The Episcopal Diocese does not have a distribution center set up but recommends two agencies to deliver hurricane relief supplies to:

United Ministries, 257 B East Lee Street, Pensacola, Fl 32513
Contact: Harriet Reily 850-438-6655 or 850-434-7371 -- They need canned food, children and adult diapers, and baby supplies.

Civic Center, 201 East Gregory, Pensacola, Fl 32513
Call Susan Senkarik at United Way for information - 850-444-7124. -- They need pillows, blankets, canned food, water and ice.

http://diosef.org/hurrican/gulf_coast.html

The hurricane season of 2004 has been the worst that I can ever remember. Please keep everyone in the affected areas in your prayers -- Central Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Mississippi, Southwest Florida, Southeast Florida, and Florida. In addition, damage was reported in Western North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina. You know, come to think of it, why don't you just go ahead and pray for everyone else, too? The Lord knows we can all use a few prayers . . .

In God's Hands

"I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." -- Martin Luther

Jesus' To-Do List

As I write these words, communities in Province IV are picking up the pieces following a succession of tropical storms and hurricanes in August and September. And I am reminded of how I spent the night of September 21, 1989 with my family in our boarded-up house just blocks from the Charleston waterfront. As the winds howled outside, we said our prayers and cradled our three children in the candle lit dark. Hugo battered the Lowcountry for hours, and when morning dawned, we ventured out to survey the destruction. The next few days were focused on the bare essentials – food, water, and a steady supply of batteries.

On Sunday morning, we took cold showers, combed our wet hair, and walked three blocks to St. Philip’s to count our blessings. Many in our parish had suffered great losses, and we listened to story after story of God’s grace and mercy in meeting their needs. My husband and I were reminded of our temporal existence amidst material possessions, and the Heavenly Banquet which awaits us with the Father. God gave us freely that which we could not purchase for ourselves – salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. On that Sunday morning in 1989, we saw with perfect clarity what really mattered.

Storms in this life are inevitable, and it’s tempting, as we await the outcome of the Lambeth Report and the Primates’ meeting this winter, to board up and hunker down. But God does not call us to wait and see. We are called to pray fervently, labor diligently, and give liberally to make Him known. In the weeks and months ahead, we would do well to remember that Jesus gave us a very simple to-do list. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Go and make disciples . . . And he finished with the promise that makes it all possible. And lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

A people madly in love with our Lord

"Beloved, when we step out of those two doors in the back of the church we enter the mission field of our Father: a land in need of those who are committed to following the call of the Lord and Savior of all. For their sake out there, for our sake in here, for Christ's sake, let us be a people madly in love with our Lord: take up your cross and follow Him."

from the Rev. Andrew O'Dell, Curate at the Cathedral of St. Luke & St. Paul, Charleston and 2003 graduate of St. Luke's School of Theology, Sewanee

Even there shall thy hand lead me

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? ... If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."- Psalm 139