Often, in my road trips, I get questions from friends and ministry colleagues about how the hurricane has affected life for people in Louisiana.

The Diocese of Lake Charles has always had a special place in my heart. I’ve had a good number of chances to minister among the adults and youth of their diocese.

Well, Hurricane Rita has affected life and ministry in that corner of Louisiana. After things settled down, I contacted the good folks there to see if there was still going to be a conference. The answer I got was, “It will be much simpler because we can’t ask our people to pay for a weekend away, so we will do a one day event. There may not be as many people, but we will gather and remember and celebrate our faith.” I should have expected nothing less.

Over 100 teens from the diocese gathered at St. Louis High School in Lake Charles to have a day on the theme “Share the Faith…Pass it on.”

The energy of the teens was awesome. The youth leaders greeted my wife and me at the door as if we were celebrities. We had a good time talking about how faith can make a difference as the LENS through which we look at the damage of a natural disaster and the recovery which is slow and tiring.

I was blown away by learning how these teens responded to helping communities in their own area—how they went and cleaned yards for youth ministers who could no go back and face the destruction of their memories. I saw a determination in their eyes of how they would continue to be people who share and pass on faith.

I got to see a student from my very first year of teaching…who was there with her son who’s a junior in high school…it’s neat to be working with a second generation (I think!).

It is always a treat to work with Sandy Gay, Caroline Dupre and the cast of young adults working with them: Milissa T., Dana D. and Lauren F. It always does my heart good to be with them. They do many things “ahead of the curve”…meaning they are innovative. I used to laugh that they have their own youth conference in another diocese and state (Beaumont TX).

And of course, they kept me well fed. Caroline is a wonderful hostess…she made sure I had plenty of crackers to eat. I just hope she knows that she may see those crackers somewhere down the road!