K-Day, Plus 2…

August 29, 2007 | 10:25 AM

Two years ago I packed up a few of my things and drove to my parents’ home in Mobile, Alabama. At the time, New Orleans had issued a voluntary evacuation; NOBTS issued a mandatory evacuation. Two days later, Hurricane Katrina pushed onshore as a category 3 hurricane. It was something I’d been through before. A year earlier, in 2004, I’d evacuated to Mobile toward Hurricane Ivan. Years before saw category 4 hurricanes hit closer to where I was, but none could compare to the aftermath of Katrina. By now, of course, you know the story.

I went down Lakeshore Drive the other day. It’s the first time I’ve been able to drive from Franklin Avenue to Metairie along Lakeshore in a pretty long time. Before the hurricane, it was my preferred route west. It took much longer, but it was worth the time to see Lake Pontchartrain. It reminds me of the Mississippi Gulf Coast where I grew up. Looking out over the lake I see waves crashing onto the seawall on a cloudy day just before a storm rained down upon the city; lightning crashes down all around me.

Maybe that’s the image that best fits the last two years. There’s beauty in the pending devastation. You know it’s coming; you can feel it raising the hair on your arms; the suspense is overwhelming; the calm becomes unbearable. Then it’s here. Nothing will ever be the same. And from the depths of that revelation comes the hope of renewal. A chance to start over. Hope rises out of the rubble.

I don’t know if any of this means something to you. It might not even make sense. All I know for sure is that for the last few days, these words have run through my head:

After night, comes a light
Dawn is here, dawn is here
It’s a new day, it’s a new day

Everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same

Oh, the glory of it all

I guess maybe it’s somehow fitting that I haven’t stopped thinking about John 1:1-18 for the last few days either.

Posted in Hurricane Katrina, Life, New Orleans