Regarding New Orleans

There is an enormous relief effort going on down in the New Orleans area as I write this -- perhaps the largest in this country's history. From what I understand, something in the neighborhood of 1.5 million people have been displaced, some -- perhaps most -- permanently. My heart goes out to these people -- imaging sitting on a cot in a covered sports stadium 300 miles from what was your home, with no more possessions than the clothes on your back, wondering just where to begin ... and how.

But the American people will find a way to absorb the impact of this and rebuild -- not just the houses and the city, but the lives and the community fabric. We always do. As I write this there is underway an unprecedented response at the personal level -- people taking families into their homes, knowing that the duration may be months. Churches from all around the country are "adopting" churches in the affected areas, pledging support -- supplies, money, prayers. Much of this is taking place without any central coordination ... just people doing what they know to be the right thing.

In the meantime, billions of dollars of federal assistance is pouring into the region. The news media is behaving as they typically do -- seeking to sensationalize the worst news, overlooking the good -- all filtered through their own ideological prism. And, worst of all, the lawyers are swarming all over this, getting ready to file the largest set of class-action lawsuits in this country's history.

This is a titanic battle between good and evil. The forces of good are those who are prompted by the stirrings of the Holy Spirit to open their hearts, their homes and their wallets. The forces of evil are prompting others to spew accusations, try to score political capital in the midst of this, and, as I mentioned, prepare for gratuitous -- but hugely lucrative -- lawsuits.

I earnestly pray "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" -- that is, that from this tragedy will arise an opportunity for people to increasingly place their trust in Christ, to do his will with the same sense of joyful obedience as is exercised by those in heaven, and that in so doing the Lord's Kingdom -- that realm which truly places God on the throne of their lives -- will expand.

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

(Psalm 62:1-2)