See that street? Yep, that’s the world-famous – or infamous – Rue Bourbon in the Vieux Carre, New Orleans, Louisiana. Now, imagine that street with anywhere from 8-20 feet of water standing there. That’s what might happen in the next twelve hours when Hurricane Katrina blasts through the Gulf Coast.
We spent two years in N’awlins. For a city that we hated the first four months, it sure has grown on us since then. My professors told stories of live fish in the lobbies of on-campus apartment buildings when one Category 3 storm came through in the 1960s. Local lore holds that a little boy drowned while riding his bicycle. “Drowned while riding his bike? Well, that’s tragic, but not highly out of the ordinary, right?” Well, the boy was riding his bike on a railroad bridge. The bridge is over US Hwy. 90 in front of the Seminary. Lots and lots of water.
Now I know some folks would say that the best thing that could ever happen would be that New Orleans just washed away. I say pray for the safety of the people there. Pray for those who’ll go in to help out in the aftermath. I say pray that God will be glorified in the middle of a difficult and stressful time. I say pray that Jesus would be lifted up in the Crescent City.