cold

So you're going on a missions trip to New Orleans. What should you pack? Work clothes, books to read at night. No jacket, too warm there. Average temperature this time of year is 60-70 in the day and 45-50 at night. Just in case I will take a pair of shorts.

Cold. It got cold here the last couple of days. Not Kansas City cold, but cold enough that you wish that you had packed your jacket, gloves and stocking cap. 20 degrees last night.

So when Ivan and Raegene King got here on Dec 31st, I moved out of the trailer [heated trailer] so that they could move in, and I set up in the van. I could have slept in the station, there were a few beds, but oh the snoring and the mass of humanity that won't go to bed when you want to go to bed. So, I set up outside in the quiet van. Bought a sleeping bag, pillow in hand, cushion from the trailer. I am all set. Like camping.

Enter the 20 degrees. Before I went to bed, I ran the van for a while to let the van's heater warm up the vehicle. I have a full set of clothes on, including a hooded sweatshirt. The hood is up as I crawl into the sleeping bag. I Turned the van off and went to sleep.

3am. Woke up, cold. Really cold. Any part of your body that is touching the part of the sleeping bag that is touching the air, is cold. Curl up in a ball, pull the bag all the way over your head, breathe hot air into the bag. Warm up. Good luck.

As I lay there on the brink of shivering, I think about the folks under the bridge at New Orleans' tent city this morning. Some in tents, some only sleeping on mattresses with nothing over their heads but the I-10 overpass.

They will wake to a cold day today, and another cold night.

I on the other hand, am flying home today. Nice wife to pick me up at the airport, warm house to go home to. A hot bath. My own bed.

When you go on a missions trip, you come to understand and empathize with the world of the needy. Living in less than ideal conditions, and sometimes being cold.

The sad thing about coming home from missions trips is how easy it is to forget their plight and how quickly it happens. In a week or even a few days, we are sucked back into our comfy culture and our suburban lives.

Pray for me that I will not forget the poor, the displaced, and the cold.