The levees are breaking–and it’s not even flooding down here!

News reports are flooding the airwaves (hope that’s the only thing that’s flooding) telling that the Corps of Engineers is finding leaks in various levees around the area. It’s the lead headline in Thursday morning’s Times-Picayune, but we’ve been hearing it for days. How can this be happening? The Corps wants to know.

The line that comes to mind from Scripture is this from Jeremiah 12:5, “If you have run with the footmen and they have tired you, how will you run with the horses?” If you can’t protect us in the sunshine, then we’re in big trouble when the storm comes.

They’ve moved the murder trial of local celebrity Vince Marinello to Lafayette. It gets underway in May.

Marinello, you may recall, is the former sports announcer for several stations who–according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office–waited outside the office of his wife’s therapist and, wearing a disguise, shot her to death and tried to make it look like a random mugger. He escaped on a bicycle. However, it came to light that witnesses saw him place the bike in his car trunk, and other witnesses saw him buying the disguise. The smoking gun, so to speak, was the “grocery list” of items he had to do in killing his wife that was found in his home. Not the smartest knife in the drawer if all of this is proven to be true.

The publicity–much of it just like what I’ve written above–has been so widespread Vince’s attorney’s have convinced a judge he could not get a fair trial here, so it was moved 100 miles west to Lafayette.

The Mississippi River is at flood stage for hundreds of miles. Locally, the authorities opened the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway upriver a few miles (between Norco and LaPlace) to siphon off some of the river water into Lake Pontchartrain. From there it can move into the Gulf easily.

Hundreds of residents gathered at the Spillway to watch the gates open. The last time this was done was in 1997, and I was among the sightseers. Not a lot to see. Water pouring through the few gates that are unlocked into the dry land where just days before people were picnicking.

The paper says people walking along the lakefront are finding lots of snakes and alligators that washed into Pontchartrain from the river when they opened the gates. Just what New Orleans needs–some dangerous residents!

Another of our churches is reopening this Sunday, April 20. Shiloh Christian Fellowship, located at 2441 North Claiborne in New Orleans, will have a dedication at 2 pm Sunday. Before Katrina, Edward Scott pastored this congregation. He relocated, and Michael Raymond–who lost his church in the Lower 9th Ward–was called as their shepherd. You’re invited.

The two candidates for the Democratic nomination for president are falling all over themselves in committing blunders. Will someone please give me credit for not mentioning anything about it here?

I told my sister Carolyn–that’s her little note at the end of this article–that commenting on the gaffes of today’s politicians is like clubbing baby seals: it’s easy to do, but afterwards you’re ashamed of yourself!

Do you know those little brass vases people buy and station at graves to hold flowers for their loved ones? Some bad guys in metro New Orleans have been driving through the cemeteries in trucks gathering them in like they were picking peaches. They cost $600 each, we’re told, and the thieves sell them for scrap metal, getting a few bucks each. Anyway, local police have been catching them and finding hundreds of the vases. These extremely foolish thieves will have time in prison to reflect on what they have done.

This has nothing to do with New Orleans, but is worth noting. Thursday’s paper told of the Las Vegas man who was recently hospitalized, suffering from the effects of a deadly powder called ricin. Rather than being the victim of some terrorist, however, it turns out that Roger Bergendorff has been manufacturing the stuff over the past decade. He says there were some people he really, really hated and he was planning what he called an “exotic” way of dealing with them.

I just finished reading the Old Testament book of Esther last week and, reading that about Bergendorff, was reminded of Haman the bad guy who was building a 75 foot high gallows for Mordecai and ended up as the honored guest himself. Hatred has a way of turning its focus on the bearer of that foul stuff.

The pope is in the states. If I were a Catholic, I’m sure I’d be excited. Lots of Catholics around here, so plenty of excitement. Some locals have traveled to the Northeast to be among the chosen few thousand who get to see him and worship in his presence. Out on the lakefront, a hundred yards from the Keifer Arena (where UNO plays its basketball games) stands a white but rusting gazebo where Pope John Paul II stood and blessed the hundred thousand or more who came to see him in the early 1980s.

I wonder. What would it be like to be the pope? Knowing you are who you are, feeling just like the kid from Hoboken (or wherever he’s from), but receiving the accolades of millions worldwide who hang on your every word, kiss your ring, and thrill at your upraised hand before their face. What would that be like? Has anyone who has been elected pope by the College of Cardinals ever turned the honor down because “I’m not worthy”? And if they did, wouldn’t that prove they were? And if they do accept it, does that indicate they think they are, thereby proving they aren’t deserving of it.

Just wondering. We Baptists are allowed to do that.

There’s an old joke about Baptists and Catholics, while we’re on the subject. (Okay, I am. You’re not.) The Baptist asked his Catholic friend, “You confess your sins to the priest, right? So who does he confess to?” Catholic: “He confesses to the bishop.” “And who does the bishop confess his sins to?” “He confesses to the archbishop.” And who does he confess his sins to? “He confesses his to the cardinal.” And who does he confess to? “He confesses to the pope.” And who does the pope confess to? “He confesses to the Lord.” To which the Baptist said, “Aha! So the pope is a Baptist!”

The fallacy in that story–there are several–is that the pope actually has his own priest who is his confessor. But one has to wonder…if you are the pope living in the Vatican and acclaimed as Christ’s vicar on earth…what sins would you have to confess? “Father, forgive me for saying a bad word to my cook.” Having an impure thought about the flight attendant? Feeling anger toward the driver of my Popemobile? (If this sounds sacrilegious to a Catholic reading it, I apologize.)

I wonder what the average Catholic thinks of his pope having his own sins to confess. Those who know their Bibles and understand human nature would have no problem with it. But my observation is that there is a great portion of humanity–not just one religious group–that wants to believe there are some among us superior to the rest of us in godliness and purity. (I confess to being one of those who hope so–and who fears that few if any qualify.)

A bedrock of our understanding of human nature is found in this line: “All have sinned.” That’s Romans 3:23. Back up to verse 10 and it reads, “There is none righteous, no not one.” In the same vein, Psalm 103:14 goes, “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”

All of us. Billy Graham, Pope Benedict XVI, Hugh Hefner. Okay, you knew about Hef. Everybody needs a Savior. Me, you, every last one of us. And if the New Testament can be believed–I’m betting my life that it can–there is only one Savior and His name is Jesus Christ. (See Acts 4:12)

My friend Amy gave me a good line that fits here. She said, “I’m just wondering…not wandering.” There is a difference.

I’m wondering also what it would be like to be a member of the Fundamentalist sect of Latter Day Saints, the outfit presently in the news for the alleged abuse of their children, underage marriages, and multiple wives. From what I understand–I’ve visited the headquarters of such a splinter group from the LDS in Independence, Missouri–these folks take literally and seriously the original teachings of Joseph Smith and refuse to accept the newer “revelations” from the head apostle which negate some of what the prophet said. I wish they would take Smith seriously enough to go back and read the whole story on the man’s life and behavior. They might unearth some revelations of their own which would open their eyes and send them to a local Christian church where they would ask the pastor to pray with them. What a joy it would be to welcome them into the community of believers.

Pray for the judge handling that case and the hundreds of lawyers who have stepped up to represent the children–pray for the child protective service folks, too–as they try to unravel all this mess and do the responsible thing for those children.

My preaching schedule….

I’ll be preaching at Calvary Baptist Church, 2401 General DeGaulle Drive, New Orleans, this Sunday morning (April 20) at 9:30 a.m. for their mission emphasis. Their website is www.calvaryno.org. They’ve not had a pastor since Keith Manuel left–that seems like two years, but probably isn’t–but Professor Norris Grubbs has been their very capable Interim Pastor.

The following Sunday, April 27, I’ll be preaching at Highland Baptist Church in Metairie (at the intersection of Cleary and Rayne) at 10:30 a.m, then drawing all afternoon at FBC of Belle Chasse for some kind of outdoor fair they’re having.

The first weekend of May, after our “New Orleans Summit” at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Georgia, that Saturday, May 3, my high school class is celebrating its 50th reunion. Hard to believe that can be happening to youngsters like us. At the Bernice Hilton Auditorium in beautiful downtown Double Springs, Alabama. To church with Mom that Sunday, then back to New Orleans.

Have we said here that we’re losing two of our finest young pastors? Scott and Jennifer Smith are moving to the First Baptist Church of Tullos, LA, and Todd and Tabby Hallman are going to Sans Souci Baptist Church in Greenville, SC. They will leave major holes in our hearts and the associational program. We love them dearly and don’t ever plan to not have them as a part of our lives. But we’re still sad.

Finally, my brethren…

Knoxville friends John and Becky Cleveland sent the Sunday travel section of the News-Sentinel with its huge display on New Orleans. They asked if the travel editor had represented things down here accurately. The answer is a big ‘yes.’ It was done as well and balanced and responsibly as anyone has covered it since Katrina. For instance, they not only told about the French Quarter, but also drove Claiborne Avenue and various side streets to see the blend of rebuilding and neglect so characteristic of much of this city. They drove out to City Park and took in the art museum and local sculpture gardens. They traveled to the Audubon Zoo and along St. Charles Avenue back to town, stopping at the World War II Museum. In fact, it was done so well they made me want to visit New Orleans.

What? I’m already here? Oh. Okay.

First Baptist Church of Cumming, Georgia, has a group in town this week. I went by and visited with a longtime friend, Barbara Nalley, widow of dear friend Windy Rich, as they worked on the foundation of a house on Louisa Street in the heart of the Ninth Ward. A pretty discouraging neighborhood. Ten feet from the house they’re erecting is a massive pile of lumber and rubble where a house collapsed during Katrina, and has never been touched. That’s the way it is in some sections of the city.

Across the street, others were working on another new home’s foundation. Barbara says they’re working with Habitat for Humanity in preparation for Jimmy Carter’s upcoming visit when a number of houses will be completed and residents will move right into them.

We deeply appreciate the encouragement, no matter the source or the kind, whether it’s a newspaper article or sweat equity in a Habitat house or prayers from our friends around the country.