Trammel: New Orleans needs our help

**PUGalicious** · 09-04-2005, 09:25 AM

Oklahoman columnist Berry Trammel challenged Oklahomans to do more in aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

Here in Oklahoma City, 725 miles and a world away, we are sending Red Cross money and National Guardsmen and good Samaritans. We are talking about housing the New Orleans basketball team, the NBA Hornets.

Good for us. That's nice. That's not enough.

…
We've done it before. We can do it again.

In 1995, the Myriad became home to relief workers after the Oklahoma City bombing. Let's leave the light on again. Open the building to Gulf Coast folks who need a fresh start.

And then our churches can step in. Synagogues and mosques, too. Don't want to leave anyone out.

But churches dominate the Oklahoma landscape. They are supposed to be more than social clubs, or places where our daughters can be married, or organizations to rally for political causes.

If a church's duty doesn't include reaching out to those in need, then I've wasted 44 years of Sunday mornings. And who's in more need than the despairing in New Orleans?

> Read the entire column.

I agree wholeheartedly with Trammel's comments, and early in the crisis I even asked where the churches were.

I admire and applaud the effort that Keith and his church as well as the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma is reaching out to evacuees. He and his fellow Baptists are demonstrating the love, compassion and generosity Christ wanted Christians to demonstrate to others, especially those who have little or nothing. (Kudos and blessings to Keith and his church!)

The fact remains, as Trammel said, there are hundreds of churchs in Oklahoma, including some very large ones with lots of capacity and resources. More needs to be done. We, as Christians, should be giving sacrificially to help these people who have lost everything. This is an opportunity to show our neighbors and the world what Christ's love really means.