A "Moment of Clarity" or "A Life Changing Event" - Jamie Burns

Last weekend I went back to Long Beach, Mississippi. The devastation from Hurricane Katrina still remains. This was a return trip for me. I went four weeks ago, just four weeks after the storm. It wasn't quite as messy this time; the sludge was dried up, and much of the debris has been picked up. As I look back upon my visits to this torn area, I see clearly what matters. Let there be no doubt that there are certain life truths that all quickly notice, no matter what worldview they subscribe to -

• Life is both short and fragile
• People are precious
• Things are disposible
• Nothing is permanent: not people, nor things.
• Life changes in just an instant

In Bayside Park, Byron and Deena of Bay St Louis couldn't get out of town. The only choice they has was to ride the storm out. Byron is a gulf war vetern, who though a car accident has lost the better part of his right leg. He and Deena have been together for nearly 10 years. They live in an old beat up trailer, but when the storm was getting close, their landlord told them to move to one of his other properties, which happened to be a house. In short, when the storm surge made it to the house, they went outside, and this was probably a good thing. The way I understand it, a wave higher than 30 feet hit, and then the water level rose up to roof top level. Deena didn't know how to swim, but was able to hang on to to a bed headboard. Byron was able to drag them to a house, where they would wait out the flood on the roof, like so many others in the neighborhood. In the house they were standing on lived an elderly woman. Byron had to bust open the aluminum vent on the gable of the house to break into the attic to get in to get her out. In the process, he busted seven teeth, which eventually would need to be removed. Byron and Deena's story is all too normal.

I see people wandering through their houses looking for just a few last treasures. Lost husbands, dads, moms, children. Busted houses. Bent cars. It's all gone, broken, and torn. But everyone has a story to tell. Everyone wants to listen to a story.

Day after day, house by house, moment by moment - you hear the stories. I have seen people learn these stories and relearned this lesson second hand, and yet I have learned these lessons first hand. I have had my own Momements of Clarity, yet I find that my life lacks the change or reality demanded by these momements. I somehow loose focus or traction from my intentions and these Life Changing Events are nothing more than a Brief Moment of Clarity. I look back to the tragedies in my own life and remember those moments of clarity. I remember crying out to God and the promises I made, and now I look and remember... I haven't really changed yet... I'm still holding on... I still haven't really learned...

I keep collecting my toys, although they are mostly electronic. I tend to preactically place my job over my family, even though I have absolutely intention in my heart to do so. I forget how fragile people are, and tend to stomp all over the people I love the most. In many regards, I tend not to live like life is short. I almost never share God's story with anyone - and I never feel comfortable doing so. I choose what is convenient or comfortable at the moment, rather that what is best for all over the long haul. Where is my clarity? I resisted the change.
When I read and heard these words as a child I thought how odd, how crazy, never me... and yet here I am quite guilty of the most simple...

Though seeing, they do not see;though hearing, they do not hear orunderstand. In
them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "'You will be ever hearing but never
understanding;you will be ever seeing but neverperceiving. For this people's
heart has become calloused;they hardly hear with their ears,and they have closed
their eyes.Otherwise they might see with their eyes,hear with their
ears,understand with their heartsand turn, and I would heal them.'

- Jesus, the Christ, Matthew 13

I know God accepts me, loves me, and all of that. Yet, for all that he hasdone for me, in view of all of that mercy, I desire to be all more. It's notjust what I do, but what I want, and what I want to become. I've been reminded of a few of lifes lessons. I want to change. I don't want this hurricane to be a brief moment of clarity that is here today and gone tommorow. I want to change. I want Katrina to be a life changing event.

God Bless