Friday, September 16
Who's YOUR Katrina?
Or maybe it's "What's" your Katrina? They're all around us, case in point:

The morning Katrina was having her way with Louisiana and Mississippi, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room, watching the play-by-play coverage of a natural disaster running her course.

A sidebar worth noting is our fascination and voyueristic need to watch a trainwreck in slow motion. It's sport to us. We have commentators (reporters) on the sidelines, bringing us the "action", and we can't wait to get to the end of the game to see the spoils...but in the trainwrecks of life, there are no victors. I cringe at the thought of the barbaric fight of a gladiator (Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius "unleashing hell" comes to mind) and I wonder how a people could be so captivated by bloodlust until I realize I am guilty of much the same. Think about the last time you saw a car accident and rubbernecked a.k.a. Linda Blair to assess the damage...or as recently as Katrina...the Southeastern Asian (and beyond) Christmas 2004 Tsunami, 9-11....we sit transfixed to 24-hour news channels as macabre details unfold.

Ugh....but I digress and become much the drama queen in the process, so I'll move on :)

What brought me to the hospital? Good question. I am convinced it was a divine appointment, nothing short of a God thang, a surreal experience that left me completely humbled, and at the time, speechless and awed.

I was there to visit Teresa, a woman I had never met and who didn't even know I existed...I had the advantage. Our daughters happen to be friends and through personal circumstance, I learned about her family's "situation". They could be the poster family for "down on your luck". Her husband has been unable to work for some time now; she was the primary breadwinner, but in the past year she has had health issue after health issue after health issue. Debilitating illness, uncertain future. She's extremely overweight yet her body is malnourished because of disease. She has a feeding tube because her stomach is paralyzed and an IV port due to the incredible amount of medicine she requires. They lost their home, car, looks like a bankruptcy is in their future, she's received sub-standard medical care (I can't help but wonder if they're being discriminated against). She endured a physically abusive childhood only to marry a physically abusive man (first marriage, long over, thankfully a loving second marriage). Currently, when she's not in the hospital, they're living in an extended stay motel--she, her husband, middle school daughter and college-age son. It ain't the Ritz Carlton. Oh, and her oldest son steals from all of them when he comes around and he's messed up either using or selling drugs. Are you getting a picture?

And yet...AND YET...this woman was BEAUTIFUL! Not once did she utter anything negative; she did answer my questions, she did tell an ugly truth, but she was PRECIOUS. In just a few hours we bonded in a way I have never before experienced. I told her I was there because I loved Jesus and after learning a little bit about their circumstances, I couldn't NOT come... because we wanted to be His hands and feet in anyway we could (Tad had learned about their need before I had, which was the impetus for my going to visit). We laughed and we cried and we prayed ... and a few hours passed in moments.

I didn't pity her although I felt deeply for her circumstances...they're awful....but I found myself very humbled and painfully aware of my "riches", materially and otherwise. She accepted the ways we were able to meet some of their needs in a way that truly challenged me. As I sit here and write, I can't even articulate her acceptance....there was this silent understanding that "we're all in this together...and what's mine is yours". I know that's extreme, I wish I was that generous, but that tone was certainly present.

I barely remember the walk from her room to my car...the tears came again. I think they were some kind of emotional release for the utter joy of being Christ to someone who needed Him. It was surreal and amazing. And it makes me hungry for more of Him.

And as the week unfolded and I saw the destruction from Katrina, I was struck with the thought that Teresa WAS a Katrina to me. I may not be in a position to reach the hundreds of thousands devastated by that disaster....but if I slow down...listen to the people around me...I can touch the lives of one...or two...or three, who are experiencing their own tragedies. Not world hunger. Not the masses. But making a difference.

  Into the pensieve on Friday, September 16, 2005
  Your thoughts, please (4)


4 Comments:
At October 08, 2006, Blogger Karmyn R said...

(Okay - one more backpost for the game)

This post pretty much sums up what I LOVE about you, Robin!

Obviously - you have a generous spirit, you find good messages in the worst situations, your relationship with God humbles you yet gives you strength, AND you aren't araid to voice your opinion or show us your weaknesses. All of that combined makes you AWESOME!!

 
At October 09, 2006, Blogger Malissa said...

Beautiful. So often God slaps me upside the head to remind me I should quit being grouchy about the things I'm, dealing with!

 
At October 09, 2006, Blogger Pamela said...

Our society is such that we are not encouraged just to give of ourselves... we think we have to give money or goods. Maybe some people just need to have a human touch. Do I have healing in my hands? In my smile? In my ears? Maybe I don't have to say anything at all.

 
At October 10, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a challenge. We tend to look the other way -- I can't get my hands dirty, I'm too busy, If I don't look I don't have to take responsibility, etc.
Compassion answers when a need is announced, but Love looks for a need & meets it with no fanfare.

 

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Please click the red pensieve...it's my current blogging spot!

My Photo Name:
Robin

Location:
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Married to my college sweet-heart :)...three GREAT kids I'm not selling to the circus today...I LOVE to laugh (& smile often)...love to read & cook, hate to shop (unless the store is very small and doesn't leave me dazed and confused). I'm scared of flying so although I'd like to travel more, I don't.

I've been pleasantly surprised to find life in my 40s to be an amazing time of transformation & discovery--of self, others, creation and the Creator.

Here's a partial explanation for my Blog title. I think it'd be cool if they really existed.

A Pensieve is a stone basin.... [One] can extract his or her own memories and place them in the Pensieve, especially to relieve the mind when it becomes too flooded with information. Anyone can examine the memories in the Pensieve, which also allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the memories stored within...

A Pensieve first appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...

For the complete explanation, see
my 2/17/06 post.

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Are We Happy Plastic People?
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We Live in a Multiple Choice World....


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