“I will highly praise you, my God, the king.  I will bless your name forever and ever.  I will bless you every day.  I will praise your name forever and ever.” Psalm 145: 1-2

In late-June, 2006, seven men from FCC traveled to Meridian, Mississippi in a van provided by North Eaton Christian Church to help out with Habitat for Humanity in partnership with the First Christian Church of Meridian, MS.  All seven men (Ed Carpenter, Evan Hollopeter, Chris Jones, Dave Kreiner, Kit Marty, Chris Peacock, and Chris Robinson) were called in their own way to perform this mission.  Each day we praised God for calling us there to perform this mission and each day God blessed us with a new experience of what it truly means to be a humble and obedient servant to God and His will. 

We were called to help a woman named Barbara, whose house was delayed because of Katrina, her 18-year-old son and her daughter, Ashontel who was entering the 9th grade, in ways which most of us were "clueless" about prior to arriving in Meridian (except for Dave and Chris ... "which Chris?  Doesn't matter"). 

On Monday, Rev. Tom Sikes met us and took us to the work site where we met Gerald, a very knowledgeable man from the church Mike, the Habitat site foreman, and Mr. Raspberry, the electrician, who taught us what we needed to know for enclosing the house, installing the soffits, doing the electrical work, insulating the house, and hanging siding.  This was all we needed, as God turned us into "working fools" and we accomplished a tremendous amount in the short time we were there. 

Gerald was so patient with us, never getting frustrated by our early mistakes and Mike, who had gotten his job on faith, was also a pleasure to work with.  Mike joked with us and two of his favorite sayings were, "Get 'er done" and "Take 'er down", while Gerald just smiled at us as we worked; he also brought watermelon to us on the hottest days (upper 90's).  Ed practically adopted Ben, a college-aged young man from the church, who worked with us everyday and was quiet as the proverbial church mouse.  The women of the church provided us with lunch everyday we were there and, when they heard about Kit's problems with Crohn's disease, they even made special food for him.  If you get a chance, take a look at the amazing work that First Christian Church of Meridian does in missions (www.firstchristianmeridian.org); they were truly a beacon of hospitality and faith to us.

Seven men from FCC, who ranged in age from 30-somethings to 59 and who stretched theologically from conservative to liberal, had an amazing week together, learning about each other and about ourselves.  We worked together, prayed together, got along, became good friends in the process and had a wonderful experience.  With God's hand on us, we worked as an incredible team and by week's end, we felt we had accomplished what God had called us to do.

On the last day of service to the Habitat House, each man, after reflecting upon the experience, chose one word to describe how he felt. Those words were:  Awesome, Moving, Grateful, Satisfying, Content, Incredible, and Grace.   After we left Meridian, we took a day and went down to the Gulf Coast to see the devastation along the coast and in New Orleans almost a year after Katrina struck.  As you can see from the pictures, there is a lot of work still to do.

Our mission to Meridian proved that God is good and that through him, all things are possible.