People are praying for Sheriff Harry Lee. Suffering from a particularly severe form of leukemia, Jefferson Parish’s chief law enforcement officer is in San Diego taking chemotherapy. A group calling itself “Prayerful Friends of Harry Lee” purchased a full page ad in Sunday’s Times-Picayune and invited five spiritual leaders to write a brief prayer for the sheriff. In addition to the Catholic archbishop, the rabbi of one of our leading Jewish temples, and the pastor of Faith Church, the president of the Jefferson Muslim Association and the dean of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral wrote prayers.

As one who went through a bout with cancer a couple of years back, I understand their involvement of all the religions. In that situation, you welcome every prayer you can get.

Here is the prayer of Father Anthony Stratis of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

“Master and lord of hosts, our God, who is seated upon the Cherubim and praised in hymns by the Seraphim, accept us and this prayer that we offer for Sheriff Harry Lee. From Your holy dwelling place, and drawing upon Your compassion, walk with Your servant and grant him healing of body and soul. Bless and guide the hands of those to whom You have given the talent to effect the cure of ailing as You show mercy upon Your suffering servant. For Yours it is to show mercy and to save, and to You we ascribe glory, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.”

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The First Baptist Church of Kenner where I belong did something today it has never done before: congratulated Dr. Ken Gabrielse, minister of music, on his 15 years on the church staff. The church was formed in December of 1926 and as far as I can determine, has never had a staffer–and certainly not a pastor–to stay 15 years.

We’ve seen the Gabrielse children grow up. Daughter Andrea graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi Friday with a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance. Son Matt works locally and is one of the best drummers you’ll ever find. (Andrea and Ron Laitano are tying the knot in late July at the seminary’s Leavell Chapel. I’m working on my knot-tying skills in preparation for the event.) Ken’s wife Jana is an incredible soloist as well as the administrative assistant to seminary president Dr. Chuck Kelley.

Over 42 years of pastoral ministry, I’ve worked with some wonderful staff members–men like Bill Hardy, Bryan Harris, Wilson Henderson, and Milton LeDoux come to mind. Ken Gabrielse is equally outstanding in every way. On several occasions, I’ve told seminary students that they should pick Ken’s brain on how to be a good staff member. In addition to being gifted in worship leadership and the soul of integrity personally, he sits in staff meetings fully engaged, giving strong support to the other staff members and excellent input on discussions that frequently have nothing to do with the worship service or music program. In truth, he has saved our church from more than one embarrassing situation by his good counsel.

On one occasion–which I will mention in passing–we had a request to ordain a certain person to the ministry. I knew it was a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but put the request before the other ministers. “I know we shouldn’t ordain him,” I confessed, “but can’t think of a good solid reason.” Ken said, “How about bad mental health!” I said, “You’re exactly right.”

I couldn’t find that in the Scriptures as such, but surely it’s in there somewhere! In time, we had good cause to see just how wise our caution was.

Ken is the chairman of the Music Department at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a full professor. He’s a great one to be training the next generation of worship leaders for our churches.

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Our friends in other cities wonder sometimes about our reports of contractors being arrested for fraud. Here is a recent situation.

Frank Hodges, Jr., age 61, from Spicewood, Texas, is sitting in the Orleans Parish Prison, charged with 27 counts of theft by fraud, misuse of payments and exploitation of the infirm, according to our newspaper.

Authorities say Hodges set up an office in Metairie under two different business names and advertised himself as available for rebuilding hurricane-damaged homes, of which we still have thousands. Ruth Ann Kerr says she employed Hodges’ firm to elevate her house. Hodges hired a crew of inexperienced workers and paid no attention to the building codes. They ended up cracking the brick walls, collapsing a portion of the home, and leaving the interior of the home bowl-shaped. When Kerr brought in a representative of a reputable firm, he advised her the house was too damaged for his men to work on and that all of the elevation building codes had been violated. Hodges resisted all attempts by Mrs. Kerr to contact him.

What makes this especially disappointing to Mrs. Kerr is that she met Mr. Hodges at church. The newspaper says, “Hodges came highly recommended from a friend that Kerr knew through church seminars. Hodges and his family attended Sunday morning services with her for a year as her home in the 3800 block of Tulane Drive fell deeper into disrepair.” She lamented, “I’m a person of faith and he presented himself that way.”

The authorities cite numerous other instances in which Hodges took the money and either did shoddy work or no work. One victim said, “This guy is the consummate con artist and grifter.”

The paper did not say which church Mr. Hodges attended in our city. I’m a realist about these things and know it could very well have been any church of any denomination. Pastors sometimes have to remind our members that they should not assume anything of someone just because he or she is in church every Sunday.

I’m reminded of something Bart Starr said about his football coach, the legendary Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. “It used to puzzle me,” he said, “that Coach Lombardi went to church every morning of his life.” Lombardi was a hard-cussing leader, and Starr evidently did not see much in the way of Christlikeness about him. “One day it occurred to me,” Starr said, “that he goes to church every morning because he NEEDS to go to church every morning!”

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Columnist Stephanie Grace, writing in the Sunday May 13 Times-Picayune, says the latest foul-up by the Louisiana Road Home program has set off a civil war in the state Capitol. We reported here a couple of days ago that the grants given to residents as buy-outs for their flood-damaged homes has a 40 percent penalty if the person does not purchase a new home in Louisiana within 90 days. And that 40 percent, mind you, is not a portion of the check you would receive. It’s 40 percent of the value of your house, a different matter altogether–which could mean some people who otherwise qualify end up getting zero from the program.

“Why weren’t we told about this?” officials in state government are calling. Legislators are mad as hornets. And further complicating matters, it turns out that that little provision (40 percent in 90 days) is not found in any of the papers furnished to the homeowners. They learn it only when signing the closing papers, just before receiving their checks.

Everyone is blaming everyone else and everyone is hopping mad at everyone else. But instead of tossing out that requirement, so far the official response is calling for the 90 days to become 120 days.

Columnist Jarvis DeBerry, writing on the same subject, says storm survivors are being treated like children. We’re all irresponsible, so we need the big government agency to see that we do the right thing, you understand.

DeBerry wonders the same thing I have wondered on these pages: Who wrote this provision? He says, “If the federal government didn’t mandate a time frame, somebody in Louisiana needs to be called to account for the policy. To date, nobody has stepped forward to claim it.”

It’s one thing after another down here.

If you think to pray for us, we’d appreciate it.

Pray we will keep our sanity through all this. And while you’re at it, we could use some sanity in state and local government.