Everyone has heard the story by Loren Eiseley about the man walking along the beach at sunset who sees a boy in the distance bending down, picking something up, and throwing it into the ocean. As he gets closer he sees the boy is throwing washed-up and drying-out starfish into the water. The man notices the shore is covered in starfish and as he approaches the boy he asks why he is attempting to throw them back—he would never be able to save them all and couldn't possibly make a difference. The boy smiled, bent down and threw another starfish into the water and replied, “I made a difference to that one.”
This story illustrates two things. First, we are dependent on God to give us life, to revitalize us when we can't help ourselves. The people who lost their homes and lives because of Hurricane Katrina were like those starfish. They were left with nothing and were completely dependent on God to provide others to help them start their lives over. Many people moved, many stayed and tried to salvage whatever they could from the ruins of their homes, but all of them were stranded in some way—financially, emotionally, spiritually and especially physically.
The story also describes the overwhelming task that members of the Baptist Student Union of the College of William and Mary saw when first driving to Slidell, La. Along with many students from schools all over Virginia, William and Mary spent their winter break in Louisiana helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Picture yourself driving down the interstate. You know you are getting closer to the Gulf and can feel the warm sun as it sets. You've had a long but pleasant drive. However, the scenery starts to drastically change from the views you have seen most of the trip down. Trees now bend at an angle, wind damage becomes more apparent, debris is scattered along the road, vacant trailers sit on a hillside, houses have holes in the roofs, blue tarps cover the landscape, and everyone sits speechless at what their eyes take in. There is so much work to be done. Where do you even begin?
This was how I originally felt when I stood on a rooftop seeing nothing but blue tarps on every house on the street. I thought, “With so many people that need help, how can I even make a difference at all?” However, like the little boy in the story, my group decided that rather than becoming overwhelmed by the amount of work that needed to be done we would start working—helping one at a time.
When we went to Louisiana in January we quickly saw how God was moving not only in the small things but also in the enormous projects, and especially through the ministry of Grace Memorial Baptist Church, which opened its doors to allow volunteers to live there while working on housing projects in the area. We were amazed to see how grateful people were despite their circumstances. The team I served on replaced the roof on two houses and hung sheet rock in another. One homeowner and his son helped us hammer and lay shingles on their roof; the other families gave us snacks and talked with us during breaks.
One thing that I took away from the trip was that we help people in need all the time, but how would I react if I was the person who lost everything? Would we become bitter and angry at God for allowing that to happen or would we be thankful for the small things that he has still provided for us?
The homes where we replaced the roofs were owned by active members of Grace Memorial. We didn't minister to them in the same way we would minister to a family that didn't have an understanding of God's purpose for their lives. We talked with them about how their faith was affected by the storm. We were encouraged by the great hope and joy in their eyes when they told us how much they were blessed. One man said that because of our help he was going to make a donation to the church so that they could start a disaster relief team and purchase a trailer. Another man gave all of his leftover supplies to the church to use on someone else's home. We helped people who were continuing our ministry by starting their own. It is incredible to see how one helping hand starts working and soon thousands of hands join together to put a community back in order.
The people we worked with were not bitter at God for allowing the hurricane to happen. They said many people have found faith because they saw that God was someone who didn't abandon them when they had nothing; instead he provided people to help them in their despair. God is a God who answers prayers. He knows the needs of our hearts and he uses his people to relieve the hurting, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and take care of the helpless.
I learned a lot from seeing the attitudes of the people in Louisiana. They were obviously devastated by the storm, but they found a way to celebrate the life that God gave them, because they realized possessions can be replaced, but lives cannot. They were kind and patient, because they knew God was going to help them out when the timing was right. God used the William and Mary Baptist Student Union as well as thousands of volunteers to answer their prayers. What an incredible feeling to know that I can be an answer to prayer!
You can be an answer to prayer. Think about the needs in your community. Think about the prayers of your church—how can God use you as an answer to those prayers? In your own community there are families who have to choose between paying the rent and having food to eat. There are people who have to use their Social Security checks to pay for medicine and can hardly afford to eat or are too feeble to cook for themselves. Seeing needs and responding is just one of the many ways that you can be an answer to prayers in your home.
You don't have to go to Louisiana to experience God in a powerful way, but the students at William and Mary saw God working through them on their relief trip. We learned that we should challenge ourselves and others to think about how much we depend on God. Do we look to him for help when we face trials in our lives? Does our strength to carry on come from him? What better way to serve our Father than by wearing a willing attitude and showing kindness and love to everyone we encounter, regardless of our circumstances. The people of Slidell, La. taught us this lesson. We have a lot to learn from them.
Karen Vassar is a junior at William and Mary.