This was probably the most amazing trip I have been on in my youth pastor career. I have not seen so much transformation happen in such a short amount of time, even in myself. The way that God moved on this trip was so amazing. It is really hard to sum up the experience in a blog, I find it challenging.
Day Two: Church of the Good Shepherd & Waveland
We got to wake up to see the ocean. That was amazing. We ate breakfast and went down to the beach to explore a bit before church. We found many weird sea animals from jelly fish to the horseshoe crab (which looked like a giant spider in a shell)
We went to the church we were working through, Church of the Good Shepherd, and attended the service. Pastor Mike announced, "We have a group of volunteers from Michigan here today." Immediately 3/4's of the congregation stood and applauded for five minutes. It was moving. When the applause subsided, Pastor Mike said, "It's been three years, and the Lord is still sending people. Ain't God good?!" That phrase and experience would stay with me through the trip.
After church we came back to camp and ate lunch, then we decided to drive into Waveland to see the spot where the eye of the hurricane hit. We saw nothing. Literally. Where you expect to see many big homes on ocean front property, we saw nothing but piers and steps without a house on top. There were so many empty overgrown lots all over the place. There were many cement foundation slabs where a house used to be, but now a camper sits, and that is the family home.
We even saw churches without buildings, permanent ones that is. Some had temporary outdoor tents that they met in. One of these churches had a sign out front. As you know I am not a big fan of church signs, but this one was awesome and set the tone for the rest of our trip:
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