There were parents who had two sons. One was very pessimistic and the other was very optimistic so the parents took them to the psychologist to have them tested.

The psychologist placed them in separate rooms with the pessimistic child in a room filled with beautiful Christmas type presents very colorful, very beautiful and very large. The optimistic child was placed in a room filled with MANURE.

Then the parents and the psychologist allowed them to have an hour in the rooms before the parents returned and looked into the viewing windows. The pessimistic child was sitting away from the gifts murmering "I know that all these gifts cannot be for me".

As they looked into the room of manure they saw the optimistic child digging away and saying "With all this manure there must to a pony somewhere!"

As Christians we should dig through the manure of life and seek the pony. I keep hearing from people whom I have known over the years who live in the affected areas of Katrina and Rita. The overwhelming number of them are looking for the pony. To hear a person say "I do not have a home anymore but my family is alive so praise be to God" just thrills me as a brother in Christ. What courage and what faith these folks have! I am so proud of what we are seeing from the Christian world. Churches everywhere are opening doors to evcuees and feeding them, clothing them, loving them. Some churches have sent work teams to clean up for thos in the areas affected.

David emailed me and said that the transfer of the money I worked on at a bank in Monroe reached him Thursday. That was within 24 hours. It was Chase bank in Monroe and the man who helped me was Stan. He called and called to see how we could transfer money and he stayed with it for nearly 2 1/2 hours until it was accomplished. I am sure that I am not the only one he helped. People are good. People are kind.

This terrible blow to the economy that so many are whinning about is not about money. It is about PEOPLE. It is about our HOMES, our PAST MEMORIES, the land we GREW UP ON, the PLACE our DREAMS began. The pessimist says "Look at my loss. It can never be the same. The optimist says "Where is that pony?" I do not know the future. But I know the past and He has NEVER failed me and NEVER forsaken me. There are thousands on the coast from Houston, Texas to Mobile, Alabama who believe that with all their hearts. They are meeting and worshipping in tents without electricity. They are opening their doors to those who are hurting as they are. They do not have time to whine.

AS I said yesterday my son Chad is in Westlake (Lake Charles) and he has water. He purchased a generator so he is running his washing machine and hot water tank a little while in the day and then using the generator to run a small ac unit at night. They are all sleeping in one room.

He said that the main post office in Lake Charles is operational so everyone can send their letters and support to the address as they always have. So many people have emailed and called wondering what to do with their monthly support. So thank you for asking and just send it as normal to the old address. PO Box 12764 Lake Charles, La 70612-2764. You are all so kind to us.