The Long Way Home from Hurricane Katrina

In September 2005, Marcus and Deena Williams evacuated New Orleans with their three children, two garbage bags of clothing, and half a tank of gas. They drove north with no plan, no reservation, no family waiting. For eleven days they slept in their minivan in church parking lots across Mississippi and Alabama, rationing gas station crackers and warm bottles of water. Deena later told a reporter from the Times-Picayune, "I didn't know if we'd ever have a home again. I didn't know if God even remembered us."

But God did remember them. A congregation in Meridian, Mississippi — Mount Zion Baptist — spotted their van one Sunday morning and knocked on the window. Within a week, the Williams family had a furnished apartment, enrolled children, and jobs lined up. Marcus wept at the dinner table the first night, unable to speak. Deena said the blessing for him: "Lord, You led us through the wilderness and brought us to a city to dwell in."

She was quoting Psalm 107 without even knowing it.

The psalmist knew this story long before the Williams family lived it — wanderers in desert wastes, hungry and thirsty, their souls fainting within them. And then they cried out to the Lord, and He delivered them. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

Some of you are still in the minivan. Some of you are still rationing crackers. Hear what the psalmist says: "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever." The Almighty has not forgotten your address.