A New Home

Jaime and I are happy to announce that the Lord has blessed us with our first house. We recently closed on a house in LaPlace, a town about 30 miles west of New Orleans. Jaime and I are one of just many families forced to relocate following the wake of hurricane Katrina. In this way, this house is a double blessing. Not only is it our first house but it will be the last move we will have to make since the storm. For those that are counting, it will be move number five. Jaime and I look forward to getting settled in and having some sense of normalcy return to our lives. We appreciate everyone's prayers as we searched for the home God would provide.

Christ is all the Christmas New Orleans has

I checked the calendar the other day and it seems we're having Christmas this year. When all of your planning, thinking, and doing revolves around rebuilding and starting over, things like Christmas sneak up on you. I love Christmas and anxiously look forward to it each year. This year, Christmas has been an afterthought for many and another reminder of just how much this city and it's citizens have lost. What is usually a season of joy has been a point of depression for many. True, there are a few lighted trees here and there, but the majority of the city remains unchanged as people try to put there lives back together. New Orleans is a city that has had the commercialism of Christmas stripped away. All that's left is a baby bedded down among livestock, born to a poor family with no place to lay their head and soon to be displaced far from home. In a city desperately looking for hope, it will not be found in it's mayor, city council, state government, FEMA, or even generous people, but in our God and Savior humbly in a manger, vulnerable on a cross, and victorious from the grave. Christ is the only hope for New Orleans and this Christmas season that message has never rang more true.

Why I started this blog

On August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans. In a matter of a few hours, my wife and I lost nearly everything we owned including our home. One of the things that I will never forget about the early days after Katrina was the anxiety of not knowing where your friends and loved ones where located and if they were alright. People from around the nation were wanting to hear from Jaime and I but did not know how to get in touch. I realize now just how important it is to keep the lines of communication open. Our personal relationships are some of the most precious possessions Jaime and I have and are something that wind and flood can't take away. All that said, I decided that this blog would be a good way to post updates about life and ministry in New Orleans, in both good times and bad.