Article April 3, 2006 Issue

COURAGE TO GO FORWARD

BY BILL MOODY

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. — Jeremiah 29:11, New Revised Standard Version

MY FAMILY MOVED to New Orleans when I was five years old. So, I grew up in that unique community, with its great music, great food, shotgun houses and streetcars, its surrounding bayous and vast, mysterious marshes. By the time I was 12, my brother and I would tie our fishing poles to our bikes and pedal down Morrison Road to try for bluegills in Joe Browns's pond. In the spring, we netted three-inch-long crawfish in the drainage canal just a couple of blocks from where we lived. We'd often bring home a bucket full, much to our mother's consternation.