Dear Friends,

I wrote this letter to my church family right before Katrina hit New Orleans.

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy, fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high…..”  I have always loved that song from the Broadway Musical “Porgy and Bess.”  Little did I know that one day I would be in the area where those words fit perfectly.  Summertime has always been my favorite time of year.  It started with my school summer vacation and ended with the wonderful vacation trips my family would take every year.  I am the kind of person who does not like to be cold so the warmer weather suited me fine.  Playing baseball, swimming and taking it life easy was my cup of tea.

As we find ourselves in another hot summer my spirit is rejoicing.  Things slowing down a bit, even in the church, gives me an opportunity to be with God in various ways.  My daily walks on the levee doing my intercessory prayers are filled with the beauty of God’s World.  Heavy humidity, the muggies as we call them, cause me to walk a bit slower.  Pouring rain with potential flooding, as well as the endless threat of a hurricane remind me of the fragility of life.  Running from air conditioned homes to air conditioned cars to air conditioned offices and restaurants remind me of how life runs hot and cold.  Isn’t it interesting how our surroundings speak to us when we look at them?  We can even see God speaking through them to say, “How do you like this life I have given to you?”

Wondering thoughts like these remind me of the wandering we do through life.  Where does it lead us?  What is it all about?  Are there even any answers to this thing we call life?  Are we trying to figure it out to make sense from our experiences or can we see our experiences making sense of us?  That last question is a spiritual one.  It is like a Zen Koan.  It leads us not to an answer, but to a lived life.  How can we not live life you may ask?  By centering on old hurts or future worries.  By hanging on to long gone lived moments.  By not letting be that which simply is.  How many times have we tried to change ourselves, another or life itself?  We don’t like what we  have so we fix it to be something else.  Suddenly living isn’t easy and the fish aren’t jumping but we are sure are jumpy.  Unease is now what we feel.

So what do we do with this God?  “Come to me all who are heavenly laden and I will give you rest.”  Rest from having to fix this thing we call life.  Rest from running around doing so many different things.  Rest from those endless judgmental thoughts running through our minds.  Rest……  Live with it this summertime when you are too hot to do anything.  Live with it when life is uncontrollable.  Live with it when there are no other options.  When I have dared to live in that way I have found a God who continues to rest from God’s creative labors.  God doesn’t rush around fixing everything and everyone.  Sometimes God lets life be what it is.  No wonder that first Creation Story ended with a day of rest.

What does this leave us with? – “Summertime and the living is easy……..”

Peace,

Gary

P.S.  I sit here four years later reflecting on the effects of Katrina.  It was uncontrollable.  We took one thing at a time.  We still have a long way to go.  BUT and that is the big word – BUT God is still doing a new Creative Thing in New Orleans.  We are putting not only the physical reality of our city back together, but we are en example of how “Disaster is gift!”  I have met more wonderful people,  from all over this wonderful country, since Katrina that I never would have met.  I have seen a spirit and energy in New Orleans that disaster could not defeat!  I have seen God using us as an example for everyone who has met with disaster in their lives, which by the way is everyone.  We are only defeated when we see ourselves that way.  The living is Easy in the Big Easy because we trust in a power greater than us – God by whatever Name you call God.  Easy not in the sense of not having problems – NO we have problems, but Easy in the sense of God helping us to overcome all things.  An old Spiritual said, “We shall overcome one day.”  I believe we overcome every day we show up for life – no matter what happens or what season of life we find ourselves.