Go In His Name and Build Hope

One of the many blessings of returning to New Orleans is that we have the privilege of seeing how the Lord is rebuilding the community. When we first started visiting after Katrina, we generally felt somewhat "useful" and our "usefulness" was measured often by how quickly we could "gut" a house. Our team learned quickly. We learned to empty a water damaged house of all of its contents (everything out!) We learned that you NEVER opened a refrigerator, you duct taped it shut, and put it on the curb. There was a special line-up on the curb--appliances in one pile, debris in another. Trash trucks would come and pick up the piles. You would take sledge hammers and pull cabinets off walls, all tile would come off, everything would be destroyed except for the frame. But, there was always the lingering. . . what next? Are we really helping? Always the temptation to lean on our own feeble understanding of how the Lord rebuilds lives in His timing, not ours.

We are reminded of March 2006, serving with our first post-Katrina team. Our first trip, our first house--Helen Lee's house. The same day we went off looking for lunch and found Stewart's diner. This God ordained day. . . we gutted, gutted, gutted and at the end of the day, our team was discouraged. Some who knew much more about building told us that this house was so poorly damaged that it could never be rebuilt. . . too far gone. We thought to ourselves: then why did we just spend all of this precious time for nothing? I found an e-mail from a member who joined our team on that day, and it reads:

"Well, today was a day of reflection of the past week. I was trying to think of a way to summarize the week and then came across a photo of one of the guys from San Diego. His cap says "Come Build Hope" We were in the lower 9th ward, the hardest hit of all the areas. We spent the better part of the day "gutting" the home of Helen Jones. She made it out but her house was under 8 feet of water and she lost everything. As we gutted her home I just kept thinking about how old the home was and whether it will be there next year. . .After all that effort and man hours to help someone rebuild and it may just get bull dozed next week. It rang in the back of our minds all day. With more than 10 of us working on the home we continued as if it would be rebuilt and Helen would be able to move back in, all the while realizing that more than likely that will not be the case. I had such a difficult time shaking that from my mind. The problem was I was loosing track of the real task at hand.
The cap said, "Come Build Hope" and that was what we were truly there for. Above all else we didn't come in the name of Doug from San Diego, Dick from Minnesota, or Phil from Palm Desert, we came to tell Helen Jones of New Orleans and others like her that there is hope in Christ! . . .
What I do know is what we learned today, we have an opportunity now to help others and share the good news where there once wasn't. The door is open and the message is go in His name and build hope."
Each time we return to NOLA, we drive by Helen's home (often to the dismay of weary team members who have to follow us up and down/street after street as we try to find our way.) For the past 4 years, Helen was never there and little work was being accomplished. Until April of this year, five years after we gutted Helen's home, we drove up, knocked on the door and in Southern style Helen invited us in to see the finished product. An extra room where the garage had been, all new appliances, flat screen tv, completely rebuilt. . and Helen, who had persevered through it all, smiling and praising His name! (That is Helen standing on her front porch in April 2011!)

As we reflect on the privilege of seeing Helen's house and life restored, we are reminded that our mission is to build hope in Christ, not to build and rebuild houses or lives in the way we think they should be rebuilt. If we relied on our own understanding, we may have given up on Helen's rebuilding efforts, but instead, the Lord used our team for a few days, to clear the way for a rebuilding that we could not comprehend. How often can we miss this mark? How often is it easier for us to neatly "gut" the problems surrounding us and get caught up with the how and why the mission will be accomplished? What freedom to build hope by sharing Christ with others and to let Christ fulfill His mission of rebuilding lives. The door is open. . . go in His name and Build Hope.