It has been about 8 weeks since Hurricane Laura, the strong category 4 hurricane out of the gulf, hit Southwest Louisiana. With sustained winds of 150 mph at landfall, Laura brought great destruction to Southwest Louisiana as a whole. Our church, First Baptist Church of Longville, received a portion of that destruction. You can find pictures of our church below:

Though our church building did not do so well, the 50 people that took shelter in it (Kahlie and I were a part of that 50) were preserved. Even in the midst of that kind of destruction, the Lord was still immeasurably gracious.

In regard to our church family, Hurricane Laura damaged many houses (almost every house to be honest), and destroyed some. Below are pictures of some of the families in our church that had significant destruction:

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It really is hard to fathom the destruction that Laura brought. Even after enduring Hurricane Delta, a category two hurricane, a few weeks ago, I cannot get my mind off Laura. Laura has changed the daily lives of every individual in this area. Shopping, driving, living, yards, and going out to eat do not look the same as they used to. Laura really has changed everything.

Though all this sounds rather gloomy, things are beginning to change. Some businesses are open, some businesses are close to opening, kids are back in school, some people have new roofs on, and others are close to having new roofs. And though recovery efforts will take years, Southwest Louisiana will slowly begin to look normal again. Until then, we labor and toil to serve our neighbor and our community. And for those of us in the church, we labor to adorn the gospel we preach by doing good to others for the glory of God.