I am sitting on the porch of the house in which we’ve been staying. In this series of pictures there is a view of the front of the house, 3823 Hamburg St., and also the view from the porch. Deborah Davenport grew up in the St. Bernard housing, and Pastor Bruce spent lots of time there when he was growing up, visiting friends, etc. The program ministries of St. John #5 were done among the community across the street. Now evidently only a handful of people sleep in this St. Bernard Project in which there are than 60 buildings like the one you see across the street from this place.
Drive around here in the 7th Ward, drive to and from the home we are working on in the 9th Ward, and I have the same daydream I had in February, something like the one I had in Mississippi south of the railroad tracks in October of 2005- My daydream, my prayer, would be that a swarm of people would find their way here, that the streets would be so crowded with out-of-town people ready to work that parking would become difficult, that there would be so many crews around that neighborhood people could set up food booths and such. Instead of the three work crews that I have seen since we arrived (our crew being one of them) there would be something two crews for every three houses, bringing enough funds to keep the work going, enough funds to be there for people who are often paying rent and mortgage and working just to keep up.
So I will return to my stack of siding in Walt and Gussie’s backyard, separating usable from garbage, and when I’m done I will find some other task that doesn’t require some skill that I don’t have. While I’m at it, I’ll be praying for that daydream I have.
We will leave tonight to join our people at Bethel Lutheran-Biloxi, and leaving will be difficult. The welcome we have had has been wonderful, and doing a three-day work piece, getting to know new people and see this connection get stronger has been very sweet. –Pastor Glen