Hurricane Katrina... 8 months later

I went to New Orleans to meet with Stan and the Western kids two weekends ago. After a day working on a house, we headed to Golfport, Mississippi, to the beach.
I just wanted to tell you a quick story about a man we met. Due to my delay in writing this, some of you may have heard this story already. logan and amy on the beach!

After a long day, Stan gathered everyone in a circle to debrief and share thoughts, feelings, and observations. I believe this is especially important to do with 16-20 year olds because seeing the devistation we did, it easily causes us to ask questions. As we were sharing, a man, probably in his late 40s, walked up and asked if he could join us if we were praying. He sat down between me and Cole Oberkirsch. Introductions were made and we found out he had first immigrated to Canada from Scotland as a child. He began to share his story with us. With a few days warning before the hurricane hit land, he decided it would be best to send his wife and 8 year old son north, to safer land. That night there was a heavy rain storm. His wife slid on the interstate head on into an 18-wheeler; both were killed instantly. Within that week, he lost his family and all of his material possesions. As shocking as his story was, he abruptly stopped and asked us, "So, do you guys know Saskatchewan?" "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!" was basically our unanimous response. Once we established that we were from Saskatchewan, he said, "Are any of you from Weyburn?" AGAIN, SERIOUSLY!! I explained to him that none of us were really from there, but there was about 7 of us in that circle who had grandparents that live there.
So, there were 25 people from Regina, a part of Western Christian College (which used to be in Weyburn while Simon was living there, by the way), on the beach in Wayland, Mississippi, praying with and over this man who had no one and nothing! (Who honestly could have played in the streets or been in the same elementary school as my dad, eric or sharon and tracy's moms, cole aunts or uncles, or logan's relatives!) A serious God moment!!!