8-29-08: 3 years since Katrina

Today we remember the devastating Hurricane Katrina that tore through the city, releasing her wrath with no mercy 3 years ago. Much have been improved and you can see the relentless fight that the locals have put up. New Orleans has a rich culture that has been around for many centuries. Somehow it leaves me to wonder how did my predecessors pull it through all these years? After Katrina, many believed that it was an astronomic event that happens every 30 years. At least that was the common trend that they saw. Now 3 years since Katrina, Gustav is predicted to finish up what Katrina left. 

Have we really messed up the chemistry of Earth? Has the green house effect finally reached the peak? Will New Orleans survive another Storm the size of Katrina? Will the city fight back AGAIN? 

As always, I will be on duty at my power plant. Good ol' Entergy. This time around, I believe the leaders of the company are more prepared than before. We have all learned so much from Katrina. Hence, I would like you to know that I will be in New Orleans as we await Gustav's arrival to help keep the power on for the city, on and after the storm. Do I consider this a noble task? Truly so, but I only count myself as blessed to be the few chosen to have the opportunity to serve this city that I have been called to. I will be joining up with my brethrens from Vintage Church after the storm as soon as I am released from work to help the Uptown community with the restoration process. At least this is optimism. The optimism to fight for the city to come back. Again. 

Please pray for the Pankhurst

I was on my way back from Alexandria, North Louisiana when I received this text from a dear friend: "Please pray for my family. Our house burned down today."

About 2 days ago, Melissa text me amusingly apologizing for sending Fay's post-product to New Orleans. (She lives in Jacksonville, FL where Fay made landfall). Somehow that conversation led to me warning her to be careful with the candles as it is one of the biggest reason why some of the houses caught on fire during Katrina. We laughed at the fact that she was keeping herself occupied by burning things. Needless to say, getting that text was not funny at all.

I just received a call from her as she's buying some clothes from Walmart for tomorrow. She told me that everyone is okay, which is the most important thing. The root cause of the fire was not due to candles, thank God. A faulty electric circuit triggered this event. Nobody was home during that time except the pets, which didn't make it. The Fire department reported that it was very smoky and that luckily nobody was in the house. I don't think it's luck. I believe God to be in it. Despite being a tragic, Melissa is in a very positive spirit but she will need all the prayer and support that we can offer. God will be glorified through this tragic.

As this is happening, I am also receiving emails from work regard Gustav, a potential Cat 3 Hurricane that could make it's treacherous path towards New Orleans. We are getting ready in case Gustav does decide to hit New Orleans. The ironic part is we will be marking the 3rd year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this Friday. God is and will still be in control.

Random Connections

I love randomly meeting people from random settings. It's like when you least expect it, that's when God brings some of the best friends into your life. At least for me, it's always a pleasant surprise. Somehow there's a level of energy that comes with randomness.... I wouldn't categorize it under coincidence because that's by chance, but rather, these meetings are more sophisticated than that.

Old Geezer

"As old as these Generators are, they are still producing megawatts. They remind me of my grandparents. Eventhough they are old and need caring, I still need to take care of them because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. " said David.

I work for a utility company in New Orleans call Entergy as an engineer. One of my responsibilities is managing engineering projects which usually entitles me to manage a bunch of hardcore, old school union labor workers. It's always amusing to see their reaction when they meet me for the first time due to my age and the role that I have been entrusted with. But more often than not, I always end up building a good relationship with them.

Today was just another day in one of the busiest plant in the system. We are in a middle of an outage, which means, we take one of the units down for a regular maintenance, kind of like your regular doctor visit. There were these 2 new pipefitters that joined the crew today and it was the usual orientation, tagging, job briefing, etc. Small talks were the most that came up of any of our conversation as I have been struggling to meet my deadlines with other projects. But at the end of today when I stopped by to check on their work, they brought an issue to my attention. In the midst of trying to figure out the problem and resolution, we began discussing about how old these units are. There are 5 units in the plant. All generating a total of approximately 2000MW. They were all built around the 60s.

Why did those words blurted earlier was worth mentioning? It left me a lasting impression of
1) The attitude of David towards his job
2) The attitude of David towards his aging grandparents
3) My change of attitude towards old things in life
4) The opportunity to make the best out of what is entrusted into our care

I recently had an opportunity be a part of a team that is rebuilding a century old church building call Valence Church. Our vision is to replant/revitalize the church and utilize it as a central hub to restore New Orleans for the cause of Christ. This church was founded and built in 1886. It's located right in the heart of uptown New Orleans on Magazine street. Led by one of my best friends Rob Wilton who was recently initiated as the Senior Lead Pastor of the church, our heart is to see the church being used as a place where God is loved and where people are loved. It shall not be a building or monument of history but a place where the truth is rediscovered in this unique city. We have been meeting there for the past month and God is already moving. This has been a journey that all of us are going through in faith. We do not know what will happen nor where it's going to go. But what we do know is that God has provided the farm house and has planted the seed and it's up to his people to water and harvest.

It's an exciting time of my life's journey but I'm also preparing for probably one of the biggest battle thus far. Please pray for us and write me if you are interested to find out more.

The Prodigal Son's Brother

Much is said about the prodigal son. A lot of time was spend discussing about him. Even after 2000 plus years, people often use him to describe mercy, grace, love, etc. But only a few sentence was dedicated to the brother. Nothing much was said about what happened after he was reprimanded for feeling jealous about the way his dad welcome his brother back.
This week forced to me rethink about a lot in my life. I'm laying out some of the most intricate, and vulnerable parts of my life here on cyber space. Perhaps by exposing it to an audience that are often silence, I might find a captive audience who could just listen and allow light to be shined in this journey that I'm going through.
Monday was spent in The Woodlands, TX where my company's HQ is. I had to present a process improvement that I led in my plant to my director, my VP and my fellow engineers. This did not affect me as much untill I heard about Brett coming back to the company. Brett left the company after being offered a significantly larger amount of pay. He left on good terms. Our company definitely took a hit when he left. I have a personal relationship with Brett and I understood why he had to leave. I enjoyed the days that we worked together eventhough we were in different plants but he was my counterpart in many ways. When he left, I took his position because the plant needed the support more than my old plant did. It was a sacrifice in a way because I was relinquishing a lot of my leadership influences to restart my career again in this new place. It was a challenge that I thoroughly enjoy and was ready for. However, as ironic as it sounds, Brett is actually coming back to replace me in my old position.
My internal battles lie mainly in the fact that I am shocked with how I'm reacting to it. I expected myself to be happy but I'm not. I can only admit that I am rather confused and disappointed with how this is laying out. But as I pray about everything, God is bringing me peace and clarity on my weaknesses. Seems like my entire blog is centered on all my struggles instead of victory. But perhaps I find my victories in disecting my struggles. I strive in overcoming my struggles and grow exponentially. I realized that I am putting my security on everything else material except God. The things that I hold dear to in the world are the things that could easily be taken away in a blink of an eye. I still find myself putting my securities in my career, my ministry, my belongings, my sense of style, my talent, my friends and all the things that I pride for. This revelation has proved that the things mentioned are like the sandy foundation that the Word talks about. I was confronted by a dear friend as I shared this with her. She is somebody that I could trust and she said to me after my venting session "Where is God in this picture? Isn't God in control of your past, present and future?(Not exactly in those words, maybe harsher)" I needed to hear that.
To be broken is to be in a state of zero use, zero control, but 100% in need of repair, improvement, growth. This week has been that. I find myself putting in 110% in all that I do that I set myself up to be vulnerable because I'm all bare. I also lose sight of some of the most important things in life....like my relationship with my brother, family and my new born nephew. I realized that if you do not put the attention into working a relationship out, it will wither off slowly and painfully. Today was a day that I had to confront my brother on a recent miscommunication which overturned a lot of past hurts and disappointment. My brother is one of the greatest person that I have in my life. But due to my neglegence, I have failed to serve him and love him as he has loved me. Whatever it is, things need to be mended. The analogy of the prodigal son's brother fits into the mold of the week that is forcing to transpose me. But God is gracious and time and time again, He reminds us that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and I can see it happening as we replantalize Valence Church. I will be blogging about that soon. Stay tune.