Beauty for Ashes

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
--Isaiah 61:1-4


Our small town is located very near a National Guard base. We are used to seeing convoys of army vehicles driving up and down the road going to various places. This weekend, we were treated to a new site. Bus after bus, filled with evacuees from New Orleans. As of this evening, there are 2,500 new residents of our small town, which previously boasted a population of a little over 300 souls.

So today, to take my mind off other things, I went down to my church, (one of 4) and pitched in to help sort through donations. People have come from near and far, bringing truckloads of donations. Every church in town is full, as is the jail, an abandoned resteraunt, and city hall. The school gym is stacked full of donations that reach to above your head. It has been absolutely an amazing thing. As we finished sorting the stuff in our church alone today, another 18 wheeler pulled up, asking us if we were taking donations. We didn't have anywhere else to put anything. They found room for it though, somewhere. And so I am encouraged. Despite the bad news blaring from every news channel, I have seen with my own eyes the outpouring of compassion and the willingness to help. There has been a little grumbling, but mostly, people are thrilled just to be able to do something, anything.

I was going to go back tommorrow, lots of people will have to return to work tommorrow, and I am sure there will be less volunteers. However, I got more bad news from home today, and so I am going to have to stay here and get some things done, as I am probably going to have to travel home. I don't know exactly what is going to happen over the next week, but I may have to stay with my brother in WV or my mom or somewhere so I can be close to my Dad for one week or two. I really don't know. They did another MRI today, and he has multiple fractures in his back, and each fracture has a growth or nodule next to it. The doctors won't say for sure until tommorrow, but they are preparing us to learn it is cancer I think, mastitized from Dad's lungs. Luckily, with the homeschooling, I can just pack up and go without having to worry about what I am going to do about the kids. We can homeschool there, or even, since we have what I think of as a three week head start on the school systems schedule, take whatever time we need off. I probably will not be on here though, at least after Friday, and maybe not even before. So I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, I'll just be attending to priorities. And you'll see me when I get back.
Also, I wanted to say thanks for all the prayers. I am praying for the best, but I think we are in for a stressful time, regardless of whether the kids and I stay here or whether we go. My family and I need all the prayers we can get.