Book Review: Provocative Faith by Matthew Paul Turner

Every once in a while you read a book that you needed to read. I needed to read Provocative Faith at this time. From the first page of chapter 1 you know this is not your run of the mill Christian answer book. Right there, in black and white, at the bottom of page 31, Matthew boldly confesses his sin, his struggle with porn. His authenticity and transparency are disarming...and so refreshing.

This book relates Matthew's journey from ordinary, mundane Christian faith to passionate, provocative faith. Matthew challenges the reader to move from the "same ole same ole" faith to a faith that is "centered, stimulating, controversial, challenging, powerful, miraculous, vulnerable, frustrating, and fearful--in a word, provocative" (p. 21).

This book is full of great reminders and insights for all disciples. I am currently examing my call in light of several things that are happening at my two churches. So far, God has been silent. I'm learning to wait patiently as Matthew describes in his chapter "the burning bush isn't for everyone." I'm taking inventory, seeking to "participate in God's dream for (me)" (chapter 10). Is this call where God wants me? Matthew says it well,

If God has given you a dream, and chances are he has, it is imperative that you seek his will on how to make it a reality. Never lose focus on the truth that the dream is a blessing and a gift from Jesus. But in the end, don't you want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? I want to hear Jesus say to me, "Matthew, you took my dream in you and made it what I wanted it to be; good job!"

I too want to hear those words.

Matthew also reminded me of one way to tune into Jesus and his dream and will for me: meditation.

If you get one thing from this book, let it be this: meditation on Jesus will change your spiritual life. It will rejuvenate your faith like nothing else you will ever experience. More than a great sermon, more than listening to a radio teaching, more than reading this book, meditation on Christ--what he did, who he is, and what he wants of you--will give your life focus, and it will make your faith provocative. And you will begin to know him like never before.

I needed this book at this time. I needed the reminder to be authentic, transparent, and bold. I needed to be reminded to wait on God, that he is good, that he has a dream for me to achieve which he has uniquely gifted me for, and that he will share with me what it is if I'll just sit still, shut up, and listen.

Thanks to Paige Harvey of PS Media Relations for sending me a copy of this book to review! Paige, your sending me this book really ministered to me! Grace and peace!

To Conserve Gas, President Calls for Less Driving - New York Times

A qoute from the article:

Mr. Bush's comments, while similar to remarks he made shortly after the disruption from Hurricane Katrina pushed gasoline prices sharply higher, were particularly notable because the administration has long emphasized new production over conservation. It has also opted not to impose higher mileage standards on automakers.

In 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney said, 'Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it cannot be the basis of a sound energy policy.' Also that year, Ari Fleischer, then Mr. Bush's press secretary, responded to a question about reducing American energy consumption by saying 'that's a big no.'

'The president believes that it's an American way of life,' Mr. Fleischer said.

It finally appears that conservation is on the President's radar! Yet, what will truly cause people to conserve is the expense and not a plea from the government. Could it be that the American way of life is wrong? What do you think?

Jesus Isn't Cool: Challenging Youth Ministry

Here is a fantastic article for all youth ministers to read! I know as a former youth minister I really struggled with the concepts in this article.

Religion may help teens find a sense of purpose, stay focused on schoolwork, avoid drugs, drive responsibly, and so on. These are good and important things and they are all part of the 'religious package,' but they are not the point. They are like the paper bag you get for free if you buy the groceries.

Sadly, so much of our ministry to youth (and adults!) can be summed up in trite t-shirt slogans. How far does the t-shirt slogan religion take a person?

After a particularly difficult night, I shared my struggles with a young woman interested in becoming a youth minister. "I'm not sure you want to get into this," I said. "There are other things you could do." She sat in a moment of stunned silence. Then she told me about her college years.

"My faith was no match for college," she said. "Youth group was fun, but no one taught me anything." She recalled those years marked by drugs, broken relationships, an eating disorder, sex, pregnancy and eventually abortion. Finally, with tear-filled eyes, she said, "Don't you see? If I had grown up in a youth group like yours, I would have had a fighting chance."

Christianity boiled down to a t-shirt slogan, no matter how cool or stylish will ever give our youth a fighting chance.

Suddenly Single

This article reminded me of our friend Mel West (she's wearing the cowboy hat in the picture) who is walking the suddenly single road after her husband Ken died last year following a long, painful battle with cancer. We love you Mel and are praying for you!

'In most cases you’re dealing with the loss of someone close,' Grissom says. And whether or not it’s expected, the person is still going through a deep grieving process.

He says that when there’s a death, 'there’s an enormous amount of support around the funeral and maybe for a couple of weeks afterward, but then everyone around starts to resume their lives in a normal fashion; yet the person in grief is still trying to rebuild his or her life.'

LeadershipJournal.net - P*rn Sund*y

October 9 is National Porn Sunday. Below are some sobering statistics:

Every day, nearly 40 million people visit one or more of 4.2 million porn sites the internet. At $6.2 billion yearly, porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, NBC, and CBS. According to statistics at XXXchurch.com, nearly 50 percent of Christians say that pornography is a major problem in the home.

Check out these links for help in dealing with addiction to pornography:

Porn Sunday
XXXChurch.com
Help for Porn Addicts
Covenant Eyes

Book Review: Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth

I really wanted to like this book! This book was handed to me by a true prayer warrior, a woman in one of my churches that really spends serious time in prayer. I had great hopes for this book because of this.

However, I am really disappointed with this book. I found Sheets' style to be inauthentic and "preachy." It didn't feel real or vulnerable to me. Nearly every anecdote that is shared about prayer is miraculous and incredible in some way. Never is there a serious wrestling with unanswered prayer. Overall, if your prayers go unanswered it feels that Sheets' answer for you is that you are doing it wrong.

Sheets' also demonstrates an overall ignorance of biblical Greek and Hebrew. The only scholarly works cited are lexicons and concordances and not a single biblical commentary is mentioned for any passage he discusses. Sheets' does know his way around a Greek or Hebrew lexicon and Webster's Dictionary. Unfortunately this leads him down the path of many Exegetical Fallacies.

The most common fallacy of Sheets' is defined by D.A. Carson as "unwarranted adoption of an expanded semantic field." The following is what Carson means:

The fallacy in this instance lies in the supposition that the meaning of a word in a specific context is much broader than the context itself allows and may bring with it the word's entire semantic range. Exegetical Fallacies, p. 60.

Sheets' regularly brings to bear the word's entire semantic range even if the context does not allow this.

Another fallacy Sheets' falls into is "semantic anachronism".

This fallacy occurs when a late use of a word is read back into earlier literature. At the simplest level, it occurs within the same language, as when the Greek early church fathers use a word in a manner not demonstrably envisaged by the New Testament writers...But the problem has a second face when we also add a change of language. Our word dynamite is etymologically derived from dynamis (power, or even miracle). I do not know how many times I have heard preachers offer some such rendering of Romans 1:16 as this: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the dynamite of God unto salvation for everyone who believes" -- often with a knowing tilt of the head, as if something profound or even esoteric has been uttered. This is not just the old root fallacy revisited. It is worse: it is an appeal to a kind of reverse etymology, the root fallacy compounded by anachronism. Did Paul think of dynamite when he penned this word? Exegetical Fallacies, pp. 33-34

He probably didn't, seeing that dynamite had not yet been invented!
But here is another pastor committing this same fallacy! Sheets on pages 169-170 says,

On the other hand, we have weapons that are "divinely powerful" to pull down strongholds, if we would only realize it...The word "powerful" is dunatos and is actually one of the New Testament words for a miracle...And, of course, this is the Greek word from which we get the word dynamite. This stuff is explosive!

This dynamite is explosive for the "destruction of fortresses"...

Sadly and obviously these are not the word pictures the New Testament writers had in mind as they had no experience or understanding of dynamite.

I'll let Carson have the last word, as I believe many popular level books consumed by Christians are full of these "word-study fallacies":

But as important as word studies are, it is very doubtful if profound understanding of any text or of any theme is really possible by word studies alone.

Perhaps the principal reason why word studies constitute a particularly rich source for exegetical fallacies is that many preachers and Bible teachers know Greek only well enough to use concordances, or perhaps a little more. There is little feel for Greek as a language; and so there is a temptation to display what has been learned in study, which as often as not is a great deal of lexical information without the restraining influence of context. The solution, of course, is to learn more Greek, not less, and to gain at least a rudimentary knowledge of linguistics. Exegetical Fallacies, p. 64

resettle.org

Here's another group trying to help the victims of hurricane Katrina.

A realistic and holistic solution for the victims of hurricane Katrina

Our Mission: To mobilize every community of 10,000 people within 1000 miles of the gulf coast to provide for the temporary resettlement of up to 10 families.

I have been reading about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina today online. This article at the Ooze by Jim Henderson is a difficult one for me to process. Yes, I believe that institutional racism exists and keeps people down. Yes, it is possible that the federal government's slow response was in part due to racism in our nation. But I struggle with the desire to reduce this catastrophe to one cause, namely racism.

One of the TV news shows the other night discussed other very possible catastrophes. These catastrophes included an influenza pandemic, a dirty bomb being denoted in New York city, and an earthquake in San Francisco. The overwhelming reality for all of these potential crises is that we are not prepared. We are not the masters of our world that we like to think we are. And each of these crises are color blind.

If any one of these other catastrophes hit us (actually more like when, since all experts agree it is only a matter of time until the big one hits San Francisco), which will come with no warning like hurricane Katrina, we will be caught flat-footed, scratching our heads, wondering how this could happen to Americans. And many of our nations poorest, the elderly, and the sick will suffer the most.

Sadly so many didn't leave the gulf coast. Sadly, many couldn't leave the gulf coast. Sadly, local, state, and federal officials did not prepare for the worse case scenario. Sadly, local officials did not use 100's of buses that ended up under flood waters to evacuate the poor.

And sadly, we aren't prepared for the worse case scenario in San Francisco, New York, or any number of other cities either. Makes you want to live out in the sticks doesn't it!

Out in the sticks

I've just looked at my blog in Internet Explorer for the first time in I don't know how long. I've been using Firefox as my primary browser for a year or so. One question...does my blog look really weird in IE? The sidebar seems to be misplaced when I look at it.

Thanks for the input!

Steve

Brad Stine - Comedy - Arts - John Leland - New York Times

Here's an interesting article about Brad Stine a Christian stand-up comic.

In the competitive world of stand-up comedians, Mr. Stine, 45, has found a niche as a conservative Christian, riffing on topics like gay marriage, judicial activism and judges who cite precedents from foreign courts. If this seems like an unlikely route to the "Tonight" show, it has its rewards. After years in secular comedy clubs, where he made up to $1,500 a week, he now performs at basketball arenas and football stadiums for gatherings of the Promise Keepers, a ministry aimed at men. For less than an hour onstage, he earns $20,000.

$20,000 for one Promise Keepers gig! Wow! I should have been a comedian!

The Making of the Christian - Christianity Today Magazine

Dallas Willard and Richard Foster are two of my heroes (though I believe they would hate being called that!). Recently Willard and Foster along with Eugene Peterson and Walter Brueggeman teamed up to edit The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible. I'm usually not one for niche Bibles. But I don't think this Bible should be understood in that way. Here's a great quote by Dallas Willard from the first part of the interview which is here. Part two here.

What sometimes goes on in all sorts of Christian institutions is not formation of people in the character of Christ; it's teaching of outward conformity. You don't get in trouble for not having the character of Christ, but you do if you don't obey the laws.

It is so important to understand that character formation is not behavior modification. Lots of people misunderstand it and put it in the category of Alcoholics Anonymous. But in spiritual formation, we're not talking about behavior modification.

Better Together, an initiative of the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, Kennedy School of Government

This looks like an interesting website. I found it through a link in the Sojourners enewsletter which is a sermon by Yonce Shelton called "Still Bowling Alone?". The premise of the website is found in this quote:

The Saguaro Seminar issued the report Better Together, in December of 2000, calling for a nationwide campaign to redirect a downward spiral of civic apathy. Warning that the national stockpile of "social capital" --- our reserve of personal bonds and fellowship -- is seriously depleted, the report outlined the framework for sustained, broad-based social change to restore America's civic virtue.

I hope to explore this website more in the future. I think the collapse of American community is a fascinating subject. I would also say that it isn't just American community that has collapsed. My experience is that community in our churches has collapsed as well. How do we reestablish community in our churches which appears to currently be a counter cultural idea?

Finding God in Odd Places : Interview with Donald Miller

Here's an interview with Donald Miller in Chrstianity Today. Miller is the author of Blue Like Jazz a book I reviewed earlier. The quote below is one of several that could be rather provacative.

I don't think about how we should do church. I love my church, and I love my pastor. But there's been a length of time where I did not feel like I fit in church culture in America. My theology is not run through the grid of self-help formulas. It's run through the grid of relational dynamics. There is a stark difference between the way the church in America is communicating faith and the way the Bible is communicating faith.

Does the church in America run it's theology through the grid of self-help formulas? Are we too focused on the results rather than the relationship? Is there "a stark difference between the way the church in America is communicating faith and the way the Bible is communicating faith"?

Impractical Christianity - Christianity Today Magazine

This is a great article and I encourage you to read it. For me, the quote below from this article articulates why so many in the emerging church discussion are appealing to me. They are honest, authentic, fellow strugglers trying to follow Jesus.

The way forward for Western and other imperfect Christians is the path of humility and brokenness. Of course, humility and brokenness don't sell very well from the pulpit, not to mention in our society. But that's irrelevant. What matters is that the Lord, in his sovereign ingenuity, wills to teach us trust and humble dependence by bringing us through hardship; trials represent the roundabout, yet only true way toward spiritual maturation. And the Lord includes among these hardships the spiritual turmoil suffered by forgiven sinners who become painfully aware they are far from the peak of holiness.

Are humility and honest confession characteristic of our churches? Not much of the time. Increasingly common is the self-assured, goal-oriented, achievement-driven, human-centered outlook. What would the evangelistic impact be if the popular profile of today's Christian emphasized sin and brokenness, if we just went public and admitted it: 'This is who we are, prone to wander, slow to learn, still in process, far from having 'arrived,' grateful for mercy ... so don't expect anything else.'

So what do you think? Are today's churches too goal driven and self-assured?

Keepin' It Holy - Parenting and Sabbath keeping

Here's a good article on Sabbath keeping written for parents. The article prompts me to ask: are we doing a good job challenging ourselves and our families to be counter cultural in Sabbath observance? Don't get me wrong, I'm not for legalism. But we do need to teach ourselves and our children to rest and attend to God.

Sabbath, after all, is very counter-cultural. It's a godly way of challenging many false assumptions that govern our broader culture. As Dorothy Bass says, 'Sabbath-keeping forms habits of cultural resistance around pressure-points that are at the heart of our culture's distress: consumerism, time-famine, family fragmentation.' For Bass, 'decommericalizing the Sabbath is a key thing. I realized I needed to stop shopping on the Sabbath because shopping was one place where my own sin and the culture's need intersected. I was finding myself sitting in church thinking about getting a new piece of furniture rather than being properly attentive to God!'

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina (4 of 9)
Originally uploaded by hynesic.

Check out these amazing photos of hurricane Katrina's approach taken by Bob Dorosky.

Interviews: Scott Derrickson - The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcism of Emily Rose opens today and the director, Scott Derrickson is a Christian. Here is an interview with him from Christianity Today. He has some very interesting and I suspect controversal opinions concerning the horror movie genre.

In my opinion, the horror genre is a perfect genre for Christians to be involved with. I think the more compelling question is, Why do so many Christians find it odd that a Christian would be working in this genre? To me, this genre deals more overtly with the supernatural than any other genre, it tackles issues of good and evil more than any other genre, it distinguishes and articulates the essence of good and evil better than any other genre, and my feeling is that a lot of Christians are wary of this genre simply because it's unpleasant. The genre is not about making you feel good, it is about making you face your fears. And in my experience, that's something that a lot of Christians don't want to do.

To me, the horror genre is the genre of non-denial. It's about admitting that there is evil in the world, and recognizing that there is evil within us, and that we're not in control, and that the things that we are afraid of must be confronted in order for us to relinquish that fear. And I think that the horror genre serves a great purpose in bolstering our understanding of what is evil and therefore better defining what is good. And of course I'm talking about, really, the potential of the horror genre, because there are a lot of horror films that don't do these things. It is a genre that's full of exploitation, but the better films in the genre certainly accomplish, I think, very noble things.

He has some profound points in this quote. But is it right? I know I was very offended by a preview for this movie, not because of the movie itself but because of the time of day it was shown (during prime time when many children are watching!).

So do you agree with Derrickson? Is the horror movie genre a good genre for Christians to be involved in?

Where Most See a Weather System, Some See Divine Retribution

Thousands Feared Dead
Originally uploaded by villany.

'In my belief, God judged New Orleans for the sin of shedding innocent blood through abortion,' said Lefemine, who e-mailed the flesh-toned weather map to fellow activists across the country and put a stark message on the answering machine of his organization, Columbia Christians for Life.

Is Lefemine right? What are we to believe concerning the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina? The theodicy discussion surrounding Katrina is ramping up. Here are a few links.

Seeking Justice, of Gods or the Politicians
Katrina: Not God's Wrath--or His Will
Hard Path to Salvation

This section from Greg Boyd's response to the 9/11 attacks has always resonated with me. I think it is again apropriate to consider when wrestling with a Hurricane Katrina theodicy.

Jesus had a very different approach to atrocities like the one we have experienced. When a multitude of Galileans were murdered by Pilate, Jesus asked a crowd, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” He answered, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did” (Luke 13:1–3). When a tower fell and killed eighteen people, Jesus asked, “do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?” And again he answered, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did” (Luke 13:4–5). Jesus is saying that people should not try to discern the punishing hand of God in atrocities. They should rather concern themselves with their own relationship with the Father.

This attitude characterized all of Jesus’ ministries. He spent his ministry reaching out to people who were in different ways victims of a fallen, cursed world: the marginalized, the oppressed, the deaf, the mute, the blind, the deformed, the demonized. And Jesus never suggested that their affliction was punishment for sins they or someone else committed. Indeed, never once did Jesus suggest that their affliction in any way fit into a divine plan. On the contrary, Jesus assumed that their affliction was contrary to God’s will. Rather, Jesus expressed God’s will by coming against these afflictions. Indeed, often Jesus explicitly identified the ultimate source of their afflictions as being Satan or one of his demonic cohorts (e.g. Luke 11:14, 13:11–16; Mark 9:25; cf. Acts 10:38; 1 John 3:8).

So what do you think?

HurricaneHousing.org - Hurricane Katrina Housing and Disaster Relief Help

My eyes teared up as I read several of the generous offers made by thousands of Americans to help house those devasted by the hurricane. I found this link in a Christianity Today article. Here you can read about how churches are helping the evacuees in Houston. And here, you can read about what Gulf churches were doing on the first Sunday after Katrina.

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Resolution 0518

Definiens of Love
Originally uploaded by bitterlysweet.

This is point 13 of resolution 0518 which passed at the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly:

We find further theological incentive for interreligious engagement through our belief that all people share a common humanity, that is, all are created imago dei, (Gen. 1:27) in God’s image and have been already profoundly reconciled to God and to others, including the creation, in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18ff.; Colossians 3:15ff.). Every person embodies something of the divine image and therefore may possess some ray of truth, some aspect of the Mystery of God we know to be revealed in Jesus Christ. Even while we know God through Jesus Christ, we affirm that all human understanding of truth is inherently limited and conditioned. The reality of God, in contrast, is intrinsically unlimited. God will always be greater than any human can comprehend or any religion can convey. We affirm that it is morally, ethically, and spiritually wrong for any person, group, or religion to claim exclusive access to God, God’s love, grace, or salvation. When Christians and others have made such claims to exclusivity, much suffering and degradation has often been the result.

I find this to be a very problematic resolution by the Christian Church (DOC). It is nearly incomprehensible to me for a church to "affirm that it is morally, ethically, and spiritually wrong for any person, group, or religion to claim exclusive access to God, God's love, grace, or salvation." Though we must be careful with our claims of exclusive and that we aren't prideful or hurtful in our claims, I do believe the church can with confidence claim that "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by him." Jesus himself speaks of exclusion.

Ultimately, it's a matter of proclaiming truth. As I have read this resolution it is clear that the Christian Church (DOC) wishes to love others and do it well. But is not speaking the truth a loving action? If we fail to speak the truth are we acting in a rather hurtful, hateful manner?

We must be loving. We must speak the truth. We must speak the truth in love!

Book Review: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

First impressions, snap judgments, and intuition are the subject of Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. I found this to be a fascinating book. Anecdotes fill the pages as Gladwell relates story after story of the unconscious mind's ability to influence us without our conscious mind even knowing.

Especially powerful are his discussions concerning snap judgment in regards to race and gender. For a taste of the power of the unconscious mind try a computerized Implicit Association Test (IAT).

Particularly intriguing, especially from a Christian warfare worldview is this statement:

The results from these experiments are, obviously, quite disturbing. They suggest that what we think of as free will is largely an illusion: much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we think and act -- and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment -- are a lot more susceptible to outside influences than we realize.

I find this quote so intriguing from a warfare worldview because it begs the question of just how much unconscious influence over our daily actions the demonic and angelic realms have on us. What are your thoughts?

Last.fm

I have been using Audioscrobbler (now last.fm) to log the music played on my computer for quite a while now. Check it out as there has been a lot of nice developments.

Petty squabbles cause empty pews

IT ISN’T the big questions that stop people going to church — it is the little irritations, research has suggested.

Most churchgoers who abandon their weekly worship do so because they have had a dispute with a fellow member of the congregation.

A disagreement on a range of issues, from the way the organ is played to the content of the sermon, was the reason that nearly three quarters of respondents to a survey gave for why they felt people had left the Church.

This has been my experience in my churches. I have had numerous people tell me that they enjoy my preaching and enjoy the church but are currently in a conflict with someone at church and can't attend until things are worked out. Here's a question: how should pastors respond to such statements?

PreachingToday.com: Preaching Resources Workshops Library Topical Sermons Tools Outlines Lexicons

Here are some great thoughts on the use of imagination and preaching from Haddon Robinson:

The best sermons don't describe emotions; they create them. That requires your imagination.

Jesus told stories—secular, worldly stories—that changed his listeners' angle of vision. They were not 'Bible stories' as we think of them. He didn't read them out of a book. He made them up on the spot. He created them out of life. He used his imagination. Some hearers followed him; others wanted to murder him. But they got his point. If the sermon is for our hearers, then we must serve the hearers as our Teacher did. We must use our imaginations and help them use theirs.

So fire up that imagination for this Sunday!

The New Monasticism - Christianity Today Magazine

'How can you worship a homeless Man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?'

A powerful and challenging quote from a powerful and challenging article!

Hurricane Katrina [Emergency Exit]

Hurricane Katrina [Emergency Exit]
Originally uploaded by slight clutter.

What a powerful image. Lord, have mercy!

LarkNews.com

The latest issue of LarkNews is up. Check out "a good source for Christian news." Also be sure to check out their new t-shirts!

'Chinese Christians used to sacrifice everything for Christ. Now they only want God to bless them,' says one Chinese elder who has served five prison terms for planting churches."

Searching for the Living, but Mostly Finding the Dead - New York Times

'I made her leave for Ivan,' Ms. Burnett said of the storm last year that, it turned out, did not cause much damage here. 'She never forgave me.'

'She said, 'I'm not leaving, even if it's Category 10'; well, she's so damn stubborn,' Ms. Burnett said, beginning to cry.

Then Ms. Burnett saw a dog. 'Buddy, that's her dog,' she said. 'My mom's with the dog.'

The workers untangled a gently barking Buddy from some branches and then, when one spotted a body farther on, turned and signaled to another worker, who led Ms. Burnett off the roof and back to the rescue truck.

'Buddy, you're a miracle,' Ms. Burnett said to the dog, then turned to the worker, Debbie Crisher.

'She's in there, isn't she?'

'They're still looking,' Ms. Crisher said.

The search team turned over the body. It was that of Ms. Burnett's mother. They trudged back through power lines, trees and mud as heavy as wet concrete.

'Did you find her?' Ms. Burnett asked.

The squad leader, Jon Rigolo, took her aside and gave her the news. Ms. Burnett nodded and began crying again...

"The hardest part is, it didn't have to be this way," said David Cash, one of two doctors with the Virginia Beach team. "If people had evacuated - of course, where are they going to evacuate to? But other people did evacuate. Everybody that died here was needless. It's just the senselessness of it all."

Why are we so stubborn? Why are we so self-assured that we will survive, that these things will not happen to us? Lord, have mercy!

Superdome: Haven Quickly Becomes an Ordeal - New York Times

Once inside the dome, refugees were told that for their own safety they could not leave - the flood waters climbed four feet up the walls outside - and many likened the shelter to a prison.

Michael Childs, 45 and a housepainter, went a step further.

"It's worse than a prison," said Mr. Childs, who knew something about the subject, having spent three months in the Orleans Parish Prison on a drunken-driving charge. "In prison you have a place to urinate, a place for other bathroom needs. Here you get no water, no toilets, no lights. You get all that in prison."

Lord have mercy!