Florida where we engaged in many forms of disaster assistance over the next week. The mission team began the week as three church groups called together by God for mission work. By the end of our week, we had been transformed into a unified group serving as the hands and feet of God in the lives of those we served. Working through the Peace River Presbytery, we were truly able to understand the importance of our presence as a mission team. Larry Graham-Johnson, disaster relief coordinator, was able to help all of our team realize that even more important than the actual repair work that we complete, is the instilling of hope in the lives of homeowners that they have not been forgotten in their time of great need. God loves them and will provide for their lives to be put back together one piece at a time.

The following is a quote from a youth Sunday sermon a couple weeks ago by Amy Benbow who is a rising Senior in High School. "The week was over and new friends were going to be missed! We arrived back at the church around 2pm Saturday afternoon, but not quite the same three churches that left one week ago. What was the big difference you may ask? That's the point I want to make to you all. There weren't any differences. We left as three churches and came back as one."

I will also share with you an excerpt from the sermon I preached a week after returning home from the mission trip.

I've thought a lot this week about our Psalm for today as I have reflected on our mission trip to Punta Gorda, Florida just over a week ago. In the Study Bible I use in my office, this Psalm is subtitled, The Inescapable God. That really struck me as I thought back over our experience in Florida, working with homeowners who had either lost or begun to lose hope that they would ever be able to make needed repairs to their homes. Many of which were so badly damaged by hurricane Charley, that the very structural integrity of the buildings was questionable.

I think particularly about Annette's (name changed) roof that some of us re-tarped on Friday, just as Hurricane Dennis began blowing in off the gulf and wetting the landscape. From our vantage point on her roof, we could see, in more than one place, directly down into the rooms of her home. And we could also see the storm named Dennis brewing over the gulf waters. Needless to say, this fueled our efforts to dry in Annette's home as best we could. But the tarp on the roof was only a Band-Aid on this storm ravaged home and on the homeowner's life.

But you see, Annette's home was still in such poor condition, partially due to her own resistance to accept help from others. You see, hers is a heartbreaking story, because Annette has a softball-sized, abscessed tumor on her jaw that bleeds constantly. She is, as you might imagine, very self-conscious about her appearance and only came outside for a few moments as our group first arrived. She had a beautiful scarf tied around her neck to disguise her illness of which she was so ashamed.

We were, in fact, the first group that she had allowed onto her property since volunteers had put on the first tarp immediately after Charley's destruction last August. It was Annette who made me think of Psalm 139 that we have read together today — O Lord, you have searched me and known me…. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?Your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

It was evident that Annette has spent much of her recent past trying to hide from those around her. There were two cars in her carport, the most recent license plate expired in 1998. So she does not get out much and allows very few folks to come in to the place she calls home.