Faith Bible Church of Slidell, Louisiana has been a meeting point for churches to help those whose homes and properties were affected by the Katrina hurricane. Thank God for the Pastor whose name is Keith and his wife Cindy and their trust in God as they have opened the church to Christians from all over the U.S. who wanted to have a part in the reconstruction. At last count, 12 states have been represented and stayed there. Tulsa Bible Church went there for a week. We helped rebuild the inside walls of this hospitable place. The walls were half gone. The flood waters had reached about four feet. In some areas a black tarp was used to provide privacy for the room.

I'm glad to say I'm a member of a hard working team of 10. During the trip I mainly cooked but the guys on our team worked steadfastly to complete the job. Forrest , our lead person, carefully oversaw the work. His goal was to help us do our best. We worked for five days. Some of the days would last 12 or 13 hours. The guys on the team completed mostly all of the wall repair. They filled the walls with insulation, replaced sheet rock, covered rough areas with "mud" and tape, smoothed the walls down with sand paper, helped it get "speckled", put primer on the new part of the wall, removed and replaced wall fixtures and then put on the necessary number of paint coats to make it look nice. There were a few details left like putting up trim. Our church donated the 2 1/2 tons of sheetrock and many other materials to complete the job.

When I saw all of this hard work I love to think of the symbolism in what these guys did. A church has walls to structurally hold it together. But spritually speaking in the church Jesus intended for us (Christians) to hold together and strengthen His church until he returns. He intended for us to have unity, joy, honest hard work, patience, fellowship with Him and each other, and hope. By helping rebuild the walls we are also preparing the building to welcome those who don't know God. And during our stay these qualities were present as the walls of Faith Bible Church were rebuilt.