Four pickup-and-trailer loads of goods brought over the weekend to tornado-stricken Harrisburg, Ill., are just a partial return for help after Hurricane Rita in 2005, say residents of Lake Arthur, a town of 2,700 in southwest Louisiana.
A tractor-trailer load of supplies will probably leave nearby Lake Charles about midweek, and residents of the Lafayette area, about 45 miles away, also are collecting a lot of goods, Phil Thibodaux of Lake Arthur said in a cell-phone interview as he drove back home Sunday. ...
Lake Arthur residents met Barry Sneed, a pastor at Little Chapel Church in Harrisburg, and members of the church band, named A Band Called River, while tailgating at a NASCAR race in Talladega, Ala...
"When Hurricane Rita hit Louisiana...about two weeks later... the band brought two tractor-trailers loaded with canned food, bottled water and other emergency goods to Lake Arthur
more HERE...and HERE:
and this was just one of dozens of towns hit by the tornado cluster...
"We're coming together to pray for those families who have lost loved ones. But it's much larger then that," said Pastor David Higgs of Dorrisville Baptist Church. " All of us need much greater then the physical, it's spiritual and eternal. And we're pointing towards that in Jesus."
There were songs of praise throughout the service. And a video memorial to the six people who lost their lives in tornado on Wednesday morning.
"We're just grateful that God has spared the lives he spared in this community," said Jim Tolbert of Eldorado. " We want to reach out to those who have been hurt, who have lost their homes. And whose lives have been changed forever. We want to let them know God is still in control, and God loves them."
Throughout the service their was a promise to stand together and to rebuild their community. As everyone held hands to pray for guidance and thanks as they move forward.
"I think that the unity that is being shown in the community right now is so important," said Stacey Rister of Harrisburg. " And it's such a blessing that I hope it continues after the rubble is cleaned up. It's a complete blessing to see the churches coming together. And to see neighbors helping neighbors."
Multiply this by thousands of volunteers, church groups, and neighbors helping neighbors, and you have the real story of how Americans help each other.
But you rarely read this story in the press...
Indeed, the usually gentle Anchoress points out how too often only talking points dominate the news, not what really matters:
,
Stop pretending.
You’re not willing to stop? You want to keep pretending that the churches who have served the nation since its founding — who helped build the nation by providing services that the government was in no way prepared to address — are suddenly impediments to liberty, even as they fight for their constitutional rights, and in so doing, fight for ours, too.
The nation is in genuine crisis — take a look around your neighborhood; unless you’re living in the Upper West Side, Georgetown, Beacon Hill or Beverly Hills, it’s not looking too good, is it? And this is the crap that we are reading about and hearing about, endlessly, endlessly, because the genuine crises are not allowed to be discussed.
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