Spirit

This evening, C.O.D.R.A. welcomes a new member to its ranks of those helping in the rebuilding of Pearlington.

Spokesman Pete Traynham of McLean Baptist Church, VA, writes this:

"I serve as the lay organizer/coordinator for McLean Baptist's mission project to Pearlington. Our Senior Pastor is Dr. Michael Catlett, our Associate Pastors are Cameron Edgar and Trisha Miller Manarin. Our group name is "Dirty Faith" and we seek opportunities to get our Christian faith and hands dirty by participating in projects that require some physical labor on behalf of those in need. Pearlington continues to be a focus of our mission activities here in Northern Virginia. We look forward to our affiliation with C.O.D.R.A. and our upcoming trip in February 2007. And grace will lead me home."

Those of us who were working in Pearlington just after the storm remember the remarkable firefighters and police officers from Virginia and their outstanding contributions to the safety of Pearlington at that time. Clearly, Virginia puts it on the line for others!

Welcome Pete and McLean Baptist Church. Check out their site at:

http://www.mcleanbaptist.org

Next up is my friend and long-standing C.O.D.R.A. Individual Member Tom Eickhoff of Bethlehem Baptist Church in MN. Tom has made three trips to Pearlington, two in the very early days, and continues to stay impassioned and committed to helping Pearlington any way he can. He is a skilled writer and I invite you to check his writings out at:

http://godoutside.wordpress.com/help-out/pearlington/

Tom thinks outside the box for sure. I relate to him on this level and I’m sure it has gotten him into quite as much "trouble" as it has me, over the years. Tom was there for me in September 2005 when I was stressed and burned. I wrote of him and he has written of me. He and his team built the very first shelves in the Pearl*Mart and gave us all hope in the dedication of strangers and the willingness to show the world that order and dignity could indeed be restored to chaos.

Tom has a great idea, but first I would like to share a quote he passed along to me from a story C.O.D.R.A. member Wendy Frost wrote about Rev. Bush Burton:

"That house, was just a house, it wasn’t home. I’ve been building me a new home, been working on it most of my life. One stick at a time, one good deed at a time, ooohh is it going to be fine. It will be a glorious place with rooms for all my family, but it ain’t ready yet. I’m not done. The Lord will tell me when my home is done."

Tom’s idea is this:

"I would like to put together a writing of Rev. Burton that puts more of his life together. I don’t know what the final results will be but I need some help in putting it together. If everyone who has written of him could send a copy of such writing to me at this address that would be of great help:

t_e_a_design_2@hotmail.com

Also, for those who interacted with him but have not written it down, if you would write it down or just some notes, that would be good. It can be sketchy. It doesn’t have to be written well, just written. I can rewrite it if I have the general information. If you have photos, please send them as well; I will make sure you are credited.

Has everyone seen the video of him? I smile every time I see the car drive through – classic! The video link is in what I wrote in "In honor, with thanks". Here it is also, remarkable footage, once again from Wendy Frost:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_pr1kZflDE

Great songs from a man who has lost everything, yet has not...."

Tom's own story of Rev. Burton - "One Stick at a Time" - can be found through the link below:

http://godoutside.wordpress.com/god-outside/one-stick-at-a-time/

Rev. Burton reminds us to LIVE our lives. Here and now, despite what comes. Let’s help Tom immortalize his spirit in words, pictures, song and video.