These are mostly unrelated, but are matters you might be interested in.

10) Do other states have this problem?

Just inside Metairie, 30 feet from New Orleans on a tiny spit of land jutting out into Lake Pontchartrain, stood SidMar’s restaurant for as long as I’ve been in New Orleans. It was a place for fresh fish and great po-boys and was mostly a tavern, I suppose. I ate there once but it wasn’t my style. Katrina put them out of business with damage to the building, then the state came in and took over all that land so the Corps of Engineers could construct the most massive floodgates you’ve ever seen right where the lake and the 17th Street Canal intersect. I’ve heard one billion dollars mentioned as the cost of that one project.

Anyway, the owner of SidMar’s was in the news this week saying the state does not want to reimburse him for his property. Turns out the property was never his, the state says, due to an old law that established all the land along the lake and certain other places as belonging to the state. “Then why,” the owner asks, “have I been paying state taxes on that restaurant all these years if it wasn’t mine?”

In the last session of the state legislature, lawmakers addressed this and many wanted to do the right thing and give the man the money due him, but a majority felt it would open the state up to similar claims throughout the southern portion of the state where the same situation prevails.

In Jefferson Parish, if you drive River Road (which borders the Mississippi River) down to where you enter Orleans Parish, you’ll find a small driveway that crosses the levee. Signs warn you not to enter, but if you do, you find a half dozen ancient fishing camps alongside and even over the river. I’ve been told these were grandfathered in many years ago and that the people who live there do not officially live in Louisiana, but only in the United States.

If they are ever washed away, the residents can forget about the government paying for the property.

9) The vacant city?

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In the days following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation to our part of the world, I began calling on pastors and churches to see who was still in business and who needed our immediate help. At the First Baptist Church of Luling, Pastor Todd Hallman gave a brief tour of his fellowship hall which they had turned into a distribution center, supplying necessities for storm victims. Boxes and boxes of clothing and supplies sent from all over the nation were stacked along three walls. In the hallway, small refrigerators lined one wall, gifts from a California hotel that was being renovated. Volunteers were everywhere and a constant stream of people flowed in and out of the buildings, entering empty-handed and leaving heavily laden.

Todd said, “One of our leaders returned from evacuation and saw all this and became indignant. He wanted to know who gave me the authority to turn the church into a distribution center.”

He smiled. “I told him it was a no-brainer.”

That’s as good an answer as any, and probably all the man needed. Some things do not need explaining, discussing, or being voted on. You just do it.

Over the past three years since the August 29, 2005, hurricane, we have found ourselves confronted by a number of no-brainers.

Among them are these….

1) This city and its businesses need strong visionary leadership if we are to make a comeback.

Some sectors of the city have been led capably; others not at all. For the most part, what we have received from our elected leadership has been promises, pronouncements, controversy, and blame, but very little in the way of courageous leadership.

2) We need outside help in extreme measures to recover from an emergency of this size.

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Saturday night, stuck in the checkout line at the local Rite-Aid, I became involved in a little scene.

The checker was ringing up the purchases of a man about 40 years old who had a small child with him. On the other side of the checker, near the front door, stood an older man, perhaps 75 or 80, who was trying to get her attention. “Ma’am,” he kept saying, “Is it all right if I take this out to the car to show my wife?” He was holding up some item from the store. The checker was giving her attention to the man and child in front of her.

Finally, the customer at the checkout snapped at the older gentleman, “No! It is not all right to take that outside!” The old man was flustered and said, “She’s in the car. I just want to see if this is what she wants. I’ll be right back.”

“No, sir!” said the younger man. “You’re not allowed to take things outside you haven’t paid for!”

The old man said, “Well, what if I leave my umbrella? I’ll be right back.”

“No!” the young man said. “Leave your drivers license.”

While this was going on, those of us in the checkout line were silently watching this scenario and fascinated at the attitude of the customer who was bullying the old guy.

The old man said to him, “Are you a manager of this store or something?”

The younger fellow said, “No, I’m not. But I know how these things are done!”

I’d taken about all of this I could. From the back of the checkout line, I called out to the old man, “Sir! You may ignore the customer. Do what you have to do!”

The younger man stared at me contemptuously, took his child by the hand, and left.

As he exited the door, the manager came over and took care of the older gentleman. The woman in front of me turned and said, “Who in blue blazes did that fellow think he was, talking to that old man that way?” I laughed and agreed that he was definitely a buttinsky.

When I got home and told me wife this little tale, she–filling the role of a wife so neatly–said, “And who did you think you were, rebuking him like that?”

My Scripture reading that very morning from the first chapters of Mark’s Gospel had been on this same subject: authority. That little word deals with who we think we are, who we really are, and what gives us the right to do what we do.

Consider these instances from the first days of Jesus’ ministry….

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Watch her on the diving board in that moment just before she springs. I cannot tell you exactly what is going through the mind of this world-class champion diver, but I can guarantee what she is NOT thinking.

“I can’t do this. I have no right to be here. I am unworthy. Who do I think I am standing before millions of people representing the United States of America? There are so many others worthier and better divers than I. Oh, Lord, help me get through this.”

Not if she wants to do well, she doesn’t think that way.

And yet, untold numbers of God’s people approach the tasks of their days in just this way. The odd thing is we call it humility and somehow think God approves of such an attitude. Not so.

“Oh, why was I chosen to sing the solo in this year’s pageant? So many others sing better than I do. I am unworthy. O God, use this worthless servant. May my poor effort be a worthy offering to Thee.”

“I have no right to be sitting in your living room witnessing to you about Jesus Christ. I’m a failure in so many ways. If I got what I deserved, I’d be in hell. But, I’ll go ahead and do my best.”

“I know I’m the poorest Sunday School teacher in the church. My class is infinitely patient with me. I hope the pastor finds someone more capable who is willing to teach this class. Maybe it will grow if someone else were in charge.”

Sound familiar?

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10. Don’t glide, but stroke to the finish.

Mike Cavic was gliding to the finish in Friday night’s 100 meter free-style. Just behind him, Michael Phelps was still pumping, stroking. That final half-stroke propelled Phelps forward to touch the electronic pad one-hundredth of a second before Cavic. Along with a billion other viewers, I could see that Cavic had won. We were all knocked out to see Phelps’ name flashed on the screen as the winner. Turns out his mother was surprised, too. The television cameras showed her deflated reaction to what appeared to be a loss, then relief and elation flooding over her as she realized he had won the race and his seventh gold medal.

Stroking made the difference.

Over the past few days, being on vacation allowed me to watch more of the Olympics than would have normally been the case, and I had wondered about this. Why do swimmers go all-out during the race, then glide to the finish? It’s definitely slower than stroking. You know it couldn’t be so, but it appears they decided to give themselves a little break at the end.

I once knew a pastor who served his church faithfully for over a quarter of a century. He was a good man in a hundred ways. But those who worked alongside him said, “He retired five years before he quit.”

He was gliding home.

9. It’s getting harder and harder to tell what’s real.

Turns out that the opening ceremony fireworks, watched by a billion people around the globe by television, was computer enhanced. Officials said they did not want to risk fires by exploding all the fireworks the occasion called for, so they did the next best thing: simulated much of them.

Nearly 30 years ago, I spent a few minutes in the studio of a professional photographer in Grenada, Mississippi, and watched him move the moon around on a photograph to get just the effect he wanted. Once he had it where he liked it, he printed the photo and no one was the wiser. I remember that now and think, “That was a generation ago. No telling what they can do now.”

My wife and I were combing through antique stores in Jackson, Mississippi, some years back and noticed workers hammering away in a back room. “What are they doing?” I asked the owner. “Building antiques,” she said. They were tearing apart ancient pieces of furniture no longer of use to anyone and using the wood to fashion new items which would then be marketed as antique.

The more we are surrounded by the fake, the “virtual,” and the computer-generated, the more need there will be for God’s people to be genuine and demonstrate to the world what the real article looks like.

8. If you want to win, build your team.

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“Something about that champion swimmer doesn’t look right,” I thought, as the world watched America’s Michael Phelps take another gold medal in Beijing. “It’s something about his proportions.”

Then, Thursday night, August 14, I found out what it is. Turns out I was right.

NBC’s Bob Costas pointed out that Michael Phelps was “engineered” for swimming. He’s 6 feet 4 inches tall, his feet are size 14 (like flippers, Costas said), and his huge hands work like scoops. However, his legs are short, just right for the body of a six-foot-tall man. His torso is V-shaped, with these massive shoulders tapering down to a 32-inch waist.

The rest of the field is beat before they enter the water. Michael Phelps was built for championships. Add to these natural gifts a talent for self-discipline and hard work, and it’s all over. The sweet spirit and killer smile are icing on the cake.

In an Associated Press story, reporter Paul Newberry quotes a Russian swimmer who had come in second to Phelps. “He is just a normal person, but maybe from a different planet.” An official who overheard that added, “The problem is, we have an extraterrestrial. No one else can win.”

Sure glad he’s on our side. At this point, he has won 6 gold medals, about half of all the USA has taken, and more than all but three or four nations of the world. He is a phenomenon. The best ever.

I imagine my sister and her family–that would be the PHELPS clan from Nauvoo, Alabama–are popping buttons right now. I would.

As a minister, I’ve encountered a few “Michael Phelpses” in the ministerial world over the years, people who seem to have been programmed for great success in the preaching and church-leadership world. They work hard, they love the Lord and do things right, but sitting there in the audience listening to them, you get the impression that they had a head start on the rest of us from the time they were born.

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