I’ve been waiting to write this post until I could get the right words. Katrina was nothing special, and yet she was everything. On the one hand, I’m tired of hearing about her. It was a storm. It happened; move on. But on the other hand, I’ve never seen a storm so affect this many lives. In times past hurricanes have simply been a part of life on the Gulf Coast. They blow in, they blow out, and people rebuild. But it was like Katrina did more than destroy homes; she ripped apart people’s dreams.
In towns such as Pass Christian people had the wind knocked out of them; Katrina literally flattened the entire city. That town is now struggling simply to survive. But this storm was more than just an economic burden; it was an emotional burden. These people’s lives were taken away from them, and there was nothing they could do about it. There is something to be said for folks who can take a punch like that and go on living.
In the time since Katrina I’ve learned to be stronger in the storm, no matter what life throws at you. I’m not talking about being hard and swearing nothing can hurt you. It hurts to have your dreams shattered. But I can grow with it. I can take the hand life dealt me and go on. After all, there’s nothing I can do about it. Sunday night we had a meeting at our home. Our church calls these “Relate Groups”; it’s basically a cell group. One of the ladies at the meeting recalled her family’s recent trip to Gulf Shores. Nothing went right. But they were able to laugh about every situation and still have a good time, because they realized there was nothing worrying could do to change their predicament.
I’ve got a lot of growing to do in this area, but I like to think I’ve come a long way since this time last year. Katrina was just a storm, but it was also an opportunity to grow. I couldn’t do anything about the storm, but I could do something about my attitude. And that’s the one thing I can always change.
~Jonathan
Burn this feed.
