Not Giving Up

Lakeshore Baptist Church steeple in 2005 after Katrina.

2005. August 29th. Hurricane Katrina. Lakeshore Baptist Church. Everybody in the church loses everything they own. Many are dead. Many are missing. The church building is demolished, its steeple washed into the woods. THEY DIDN’T GIVE UP. (Gal. 6:9)

It would take me a month, it would be a book, to tell the whole story of our small parts in the recovery of Hurricane Katrina. That story pales in comparison to those of the local heroes who have carried and led the recovery these last seven years, not giving up.

Part of a July 2012 Delivery CitiIMPACT was able to make because of generous partners to this still-recovering community.

Today’s post was prompted in my heart by this, a blog by Michele Cushatt. I got to know Michele while working with Michael Hyatt on his Platform Book launch team. After reading this earlier today, I received a message from Pastor Don Elbourne down at Lakeshore Baptist Church near Waveland, Mississippi, in Bay St Louis, Mississippi. He was merely thanking us..and you who partner with us..for a couple of semi loads of supplies we shipped in there last month. Yes, 7 years later, and they are still leading the recovery for their community. They are about to begin their own church building next year, after years of working in the community for recovery. Once in a while, someone like this church, just stands out in the commitment to go the distance, not giving up.

Lakeshore Baptist before Katrina

Watch for more soon as we’ll be helping them with another house project and the rebuilding of their own church building Lakeshore Baptist Church. One of the many sites we were able to help as they led their communities to recovery after Katrina in 2005-2012. Pastor Don assisted me in a memorial service there for a man across the street, Wilbur Lafleur, who lost his wife in the surging Katrina waters. Many volunteers helped us rebuild the home of Wilbur. Lakeshore Baptist will be building back, 12 feet off the ground. Watch for more on this story as we partner with them, still. It’s our honor & very humbling that all of YOU are part of the process with us with people like this.

CitiIMPACT helped set up the first relief station on Lakeshore Road at the site of the Baptist Church, as they led the recovery.

On October 29, 1941, U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Harrow School to to hear the traditional songs he had sung there as a youth, as well as to speak to the students. When he was invited to give a speech, Churchill stood before the students and said,“Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.”

When have you been tempted to give up? When did you persevere and not give up? What helpful hints to you have for others?

YOU can help others. You CAN! Blessings, JD Smith

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