O Let Me Ne'er Forget

On Tuesday night, my New Orleans staff team led their participants on YouthWorks' first ever Katrina Prayer Tour. A couple of locals and dear friends shared their stories with the group, then we headed out into the Lakeview neighborhood where we saw evidence of Katrina's devastation as well as signs of hope. Clouds gathered as we drove along the bumpy, pot-holed streets. When we pulled up to the park on the lakeshore, our destination for dinner and debriefing, thunder rumbled quietly, lighting flashed far off, and beams of sun pushed their way through dark clouds. The darkness of an impending storm and the light of the sun met in the sky above us, much as darkness and light mingled in the neighborhood we had just toured.

At Club that night, we sang the following song, and the words could not have been more fitting for such a day:

This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings,
and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world: I
rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees,
of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world.
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!