Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Simone's Story
Simone came to Jesus and was baptized in 1990. She said she stayed faithful and involved for seven or eight years until she moved to New Orleans. Then she began to fall away, lost her focus, and began living a lifestyle that went against everything she really believed in. When Katrina hit, she was living with her five children: two girls, ages 16 and 13, and three boys, ages 10, 20 months, and three months.
They thought they could ride out the storm when it stopped raining, but soon had to retreat into their attic with one of their neighbors. Realizing that they were not going to be able to survive the rising water, they swam through their house, out the front door, and climbed onto their roof. They were then evacuated by helicopter to the University of New Orleans. Meanwhile, the infant had swallowed so much water that he and Simone had to be Care-flighted to a hospital in Baton Rouge.
While they were at the hospital, UNO campus had to be evacuated. The neighbor and the other four children were put on a bus to Reunion Arena in Dallas. With the help of kind, loving, and persistant volunteers, Simone was contacted and told her children were with the neighbor in Dallas. One of the pediatric nurses at the hospial was a member of the South Baton Rouge church of Christ and told Simone that she and her baby could find shelter at the church's Student Center near LSU.
In the meantime, I was with our advance team from Herald of Truth over at the Student Center handing out tracts and setting up our distributions for this coming weekend. While there, we visited with Ann Ledet, the Women's Campus Minister, about what they were doing and how we could help. We then made our way over to the Riverside church of Christ in Lafayette. About 10:30 that night, Ann called Riverside looking for the Herald of Truth group; she was wondering if we could take Simone and her infant to Dallas and help her find her children. So we did.
What a trip. By the way, infant seats are lots more complicated to hook up than I remembered. We prayed to find her kids, we talked about Jesus, and we sang praise songs all the way to Dallas. Simone spoke of her desire to regain her spiritual focus, and to make sure that her children had faith. While on the way, we contacted the volunteer in Dallas and found out the kids had been moved to the Convention Center.
When we rolled in to Dallas (about 8 pm), we headed to the Convention Center. While Simone was registering with the Red Cross, I got on the phone to find the volunteer and the children. In a crowd of thousands, there was only one thing to do: "look for the bald guy standing on a chair waving his hands..." In a few moments, there were squeals of joy, tears of relief, and a standing ovation from everyone in the area.
Only God could have pulled it off. I'm glad He used me to be a small part of it.
They thought they could ride out the storm when it stopped raining, but soon had to retreat into their attic with one of their neighbors. Realizing that they were not going to be able to survive the rising water, they swam through their house, out the front door, and climbed onto their roof. They were then evacuated by helicopter to the University of New Orleans. Meanwhile, the infant had swallowed so much water that he and Simone had to be Care-flighted to a hospital in Baton Rouge.
While they were at the hospital, UNO campus had to be evacuated. The neighbor and the other four children were put on a bus to Reunion Arena in Dallas. With the help of kind, loving, and persistant volunteers, Simone was contacted and told her children were with the neighbor in Dallas. One of the pediatric nurses at the hospial was a member of the South Baton Rouge church of Christ and told Simone that she and her baby could find shelter at the church's Student Center near LSU.
In the meantime, I was with our advance team from Herald of Truth over at the Student Center handing out tracts and setting up our distributions for this coming weekend. While there, we visited with Ann Ledet, the Women's Campus Minister, about what they were doing and how we could help. We then made our way over to the Riverside church of Christ in Lafayette. About 10:30 that night, Ann called Riverside looking for the Herald of Truth group; she was wondering if we could take Simone and her infant to Dallas and help her find her children. So we did.
What a trip. By the way, infant seats are lots more complicated to hook up than I remembered. We prayed to find her kids, we talked about Jesus, and we sang praise songs all the way to Dallas. Simone spoke of her desire to regain her spiritual focus, and to make sure that her children had faith. While on the way, we contacted the volunteer in Dallas and found out the kids had been moved to the Convention Center.
When we rolled in to Dallas (about 8 pm), we headed to the Convention Center. While Simone was registering with the Red Cross, I got on the phone to find the volunteer and the children. In a crowd of thousands, there was only one thing to do: "look for the bald guy standing on a chair waving his hands..." In a few moments, there were squeals of joy, tears of relief, and a standing ovation from everyone in the area.
Only God could have pulled it off. I'm glad He used me to be a small part of it.
