week 12, post 4 -- tragedy and compassion in action

Yesterday afternoon I received some very bad news from Cindy, our host: George's trailer home, positioned next to mine on their property, had caught fire and burned. Everything George owned, except for his car, was destroyed. That evening I went back home and saw it for myself. Heartbreaking. I went by the little baptist church, where the mennonites were staying to do their relief work, and told them about it.

At 8:15 this morning a van load and two pickups of the mennonite work crew arrived ready to help. Ignoring the swarming, biting gnats, they pitched into their work and had the area cleaned up as well as possible by 8:40. These compassionate people, conservative and traditional in their personal lifestyles, are wonderfully liberal in their practice of tolerance, kindness and generosity. They steadfastly refuse to allow "conservative" to mean greedy, bigoted and intolerant, as it has so often come to mean in American life.

Once again, my hat is off to the Mennonites. I will post a picture or two of George's trailer. I was unable to get a photo of the Mennonites at work, but I suppose that is OK; they were not there to gain praise or recognition. Please pray for George; this kind of loss really hurts.

Peace, Warren