What a week!

Wow -- this last week was exhausting. It is official -- I now spend every waking moment (and even some sleeping ones unfortunately) thinking and talking about Hurricane Relief (I'm not exaggerating -- I find myself dreaming about talking with people who are running shelters, etc). World Relief has a great approach to providing relief in the Gulf states -- by working with local churches on the ground. I have talked to dozens and dozens of churches in the affected regions this week about what they are doing and what they need to provide relief for hundreds and thousands of displaced people. These churches aren't even thinking twice about paying thousands of dollars A DAY to provide shelter and needed food/supplies. They need all of our prayer and support -- I can hear the fatigue in so many people's voices who haven't slept in days-- because they are busy organizing their churches' distribution center or shelters. The Disaster Response department at WR is literally working all hours of the day to work on logistics and getting funds where they are needed most. It's an incredible atmosphere to be in.

Those of you out there who are wondering how you can be more involved -- World Relief has started a website where volunteers and people who want to help in other ways can be directly linked to churches and ministries in the Gulf States who need help. We update it every day -- as soon as we get new information. Check it out at this address: www.wr.org/forum. You can cut and paste it into your browser.

So... I went from sleeping in until 10am and then laying around the house all day to leaving my house at 6:45am and getting home at 7pm -- and I literally don't have a moment during the day when I don't have 20 things to do. But that's ok -- I honestly wouldn't be wanting to do anything else (except maybe being in India or Africa).

And...on the subject of hurricane Katrina -- I just couldn't resist adding this website which you MUST check out. I did not make this up --- it's really real. http://www.snopes.com/photos/katrina/disaster.asp

I Got A Job!!

Yep --- I got a temporary job in World Relief's disastor response office -- as a desk officer for the coordination of their Katrina relief efforts. Since everyone knows how much I LOVE World Relief -- you can imagine that I accepted their offer. It's at least for a couple months -- and it may be extended. This still leaves the possibilitiy of me going back overseas in January or February!