Holiday Recovery

by Michael Ritter This Christmas my family drove from East Texas to Florida to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Christmas has always been important for my Christian family. We make it a point to be with each other, to give gifts, and enjoy our blessings. The drive to Central Florida is long, winding through five states. Interstate 10 runs along side the Gulf coast, and the communities devastated by hurricane Katrina this summer. Over the last several months I recall accounts of the unbelievable destruction the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts sustained, but never identified with them. I was eager to see if I could see something of the devastation, like a passerby on a wreck. It seemed like a novelty to me. As we approached the area we drove across a bridge littered with debris. What I dismissed as typical roadside trash proved to be a sign of things to come. As we drove along I noticed more and larger items strewn along the highway's edge. My initial response was critical disbelief -- had these people really gone this loiong without cleaning this mess? Then I noticed orange trashbags alongside the road. For miles they lined the highway, containing the trash that Katrina had left behind. I found myself realizing the desperate situation these people had been through. Then we turned off the highway for fuel. Less than a half mile from the interstate lay the remains of three gas stations, now rubble. Months after the hurricane hit we were without a gas station. Here it hit me. My inconvenience from hurricane Katrina was in no way what the locals had endured. They lost homes, businesses, communities, and meaningful posessions. I counted my blessings this Christmas and said a special prayer for the people in these communities as they recover.