Article April 3, 2006 Issue

TOWARD RESTORATION IN GULFPORT

BY LARK MASON

It was the deafening silence that unsettled me the most, the absence of any sounds of life. No sounds of people speaking, working, going about the day. And none of nature's sounds—no sweet bird songs, no squirrels scurrying in the trees, or dogs sounding the approach of something unfamiliar. Just a vast, eerie quiet greeted me when I returned home to Gulfport following Katrina.

I'd been glued to the news and received this text message from my next-door neighbor: "We got 6 ft. of water in all the houses. Couldn't find Violet [my cat]. Have not been able to get in touch with mama. Found so many of my friends dead. Your car was in garage, mine has a tree on it." To prevent looting and because of the toxins unleashed by storm-tossed shipping containers, the entrance to my neighborhood was secured by concertina wire, National Guard troops, and local police, access permitted only to residents with photo ID.

While I was trying to comprehend the scene, a favorite Bible verse came to mind: "Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God" (Job 37:14). Endeavoring to know the spiritual truth behind those words in that awesome stillness, I looked around and noticed that even though it was autumn now, all of nature was budding or blooming again, reflecting Life itself and demonstrating that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Ps. 24:1). The idea that nothing was impossible to God gave me hope in that moment.

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