We were singing some songs today before going out to pray for people. One of the songs was “Open the Floodgates of Heaven”. This song had a profoundly different impact on me following New Orleans than it ever did before it. As it talks about flooding, I see water 30 feet deep engulfing houses, businesses, everything. I see the devastation, complete and total. Then I think to myself, if water from earth can flood out the rich and the poor, the young and the old. It floods Jews, Christians (Protestants and Catholics), Islamics, Buddhists, etc. There is no line that water won’t cross when it comes flooding through. Then I thought, how much more so can water from heaven flood! It can cross all of those lines. However, it won’t leave nasty, horrible devastation and abandonment. Instead it will bring healing and love! I just spent the last 20 minutes on Google Earth finding all of the places I visited when I was down there, each house, the French Quarter, the field we played softball on, and the church we stayed at. I am sad for the city, I pray for the city, I want to return to the city. Unfortunately, devastation isn’t just from floodwaters. Tonight reminded that while I’m not in New Orleans, I need to bring Jesus to the poor, the proud, the needy, the sick, the disillusioned, the lost.
May 22