So Long Insecurity Book in the Sheraton Hotel gift shop!!!!!!
St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square
French Quarter, I-10 and Lake Ponchetrain
Central Business District of New Orleans (Super-dome is behind the Capital One building directly in the center of the photo)
When Mike and I were in New Orleans for the AAOS annual meeting, we stayed at the Sheraton on Canal. I always love staying there because the views are spectacular from the higher floors. The last time we stayed there in Nov. 2008, we had a marvy Mississippi River view. I am totally ecstatic with great views and I'm not really sure why (prolly something from my dad). But when we fly, I will fight for the window seat if not assigned to me. If I fly with any of our kids and they have an assigned window seat and I do not, I make it crystal clear that if they are seated in a window seat, certain conditions must be met which include peering out the window pretty much the whole time. I would be the window monitor!! If they do not plan to comply, they would lose their window seat privilege. We must honor the integrity of the seat. This is a big deal. Thankfully, they are cooler than me and don't really care that much so they usually just surrender it to me without any trouble. But anyway, we travelled to New Orleans again last month (March 2010) for said meeting and this time we were assigned a room on the 4oth floor only this time we would be facing the French Quarter and the CBD as well as Lake Ponchetrain. It was a spectacular view and I was mesmerized by it. I have also come to realize that with opportunity comes responsibility. Anytime God gives us an "overview" view, I presume He expects us to pray over the city and surrounding area. The first time I felt prompted by the Spirit to do this was on a flight to San Diego back in 2005ish. As we descended, it was so beautiful and the homes were so numerous and I began to think how cool it was that God knew everyone who lived in each house. I just felt compelled to pray for salvation's and for an outpouring of His Spirit over them all. After that trip, it has pretty much become a special time of prayer for me and to pray over the areas I fly over, not knowing anything about the people I am praying for. Back to the hotel story.........As I prepared to do my thing each day while Mike faithfully attended his "meeting," I would hang out in the room until it was time to get out and shop, eat, tour, shop, eat, etc. One day I got frustrated because I had been out all afternoon and when I got back, my room had not been cleaned. A few minutes later the housekeeper (young black woman) knocked and I let her in but not without some inner whining. I always prefer to be out when they "do their thing" but that would not be the case on this particular day. Within 15 minutes, she was finished and out the door without any significant conversation whatsoever. The next morning, I was finishing up my "quiet time" when she knocked on the door and said, "housekeeping." I was a bit perturbed because I was in the room and I really did want her to service the room with me there. My preference would be for her to "magically" come when we are not around. Again, that wasn't happening today. I asked her to come in. While I sat in a chair and finished reading my Bible and Updated Breaking Free, she (exact same girl from yesterday) began to make the bed and whatnot. I was still annoyed in my spirit that she was crashing my "alone time" party, but I began to ask God if there was a reason that He put this same young woman in my path two days in a row. It was becoming too obvious that He was up to something because the times of her cleaning were so inconsistent....one day she came late, the next really early. Vat the heck was up with that?! I tried to be still and listen to any word from God. I sensed that I was to have a conversation with her so I asked her if she was in town when Hurricane Katrina hit. (Everyone from NOLA has a Katrina story and all you have to do to get them to open up is ask them about it. They still want and need to talk about it). She began to tell me that she was indeed in town and did not evacuate until she was put on a bus from the Superdome and bused to Dallas. She told me that after a month in Dallas, she found out she had a cousin in the Atlanta area and arrangements were made for her to go there for three months. It sounded to me like she had no immediate family to speak of. She said it was the worst thing she had been through and not knowing if she would get to come back to New Orleans was very stressful. I thought about the Franklin Ave. Baptist Church where Beth filmed the re-taping of Breaking Free. I am currently doing that study and had been working on my "homework" when she interrupted me. I asked her if she was a Believer in Jesus Christ and she said she was. I asked her if she had a church in NOLA and she said no. I then asked her if she had ever heard of the Franklin Ave. Baptist Church and she said that she knew of it because she lived right down the street from it. She said she had never visited it because she thought that you had to be a member to go. I totally corrected her and said that she didn't have to be a member to visit and that she should find a Biblically sound, genuine body of believers, church. I told her that FABC was the real deal and that it was predominately black but that I would go there if I lived here. I told her that they could help to mentor her in her relationship with Christ as well as encourage and support her and be a family to her. I warned her about the numerous false teaching churches out there and that this one could be trusted. She told me that she goes past it everyday and that she would check it out. I told her that the Bible study I was currently taking was filmed there and that she should go there ASAP. I repeated that if I lived in this city, I would go there!!!
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