I saw this story on one of my friend's xanga's... its really touching so I thought I'd share it with you. This is what she wrote:



I don't know if I have ever shared this here so forgive me if I repeat myself:
After Hurricane Katrina-while we were collecting clothes in the trailer at church to go to Mississippi, a few victims from New Orleans got placed at Shelby. Annette Turner told me about this one little old man and said he had been in the military and had lots of tatoos. She wondered if my brother- also having tatoos, she said (LOL!!) would be interested in going to the hospital to visit and just try to cheer him up.
Well, you know me...so I said yes, I will call Richard and we will go see the man at Shelby. Right this second, I cannot even remember his name. Richard and I went up there and this little old man was not what we expected. He really was little about 5'4" and his waist was a 48. He had been in the Navy and he did have lots of tats! He was so sweet and funny-he had the perfect New Orleans accent-precious man!
He told Richard and myself about being in Katrina- he lived in the 9th Ward where the hurricane came in and stayed under water for weeks. He had been up drinking coffee and he had his screen door open -just enjoying the morning. He was returning to his chair from the kitchen and when he looked out the door, he saw water up to the door of his pick up truck. He actually rubbed his eyes because he thought he was seeing things. Just that quickly his house began to fill up with water. He ran to the second floor and just as fast as he could go the water came behind him. he climbed out a window to try to make it to the roof without realizing the water outside had already reached the window. He grabbed a gutter on the side of his house and hung on ....he did not know how long he had been there...the water was fast and several times he almost lost his grip. He started talking to Jesus, he said, "Jesus if you don't save me, I cannot save myself. If you can Lord, help me." At that moment his neighbor from a third story window threw him a rope and he had to swim for it- going with the rush of the current. He was terrified and he continued to talk to Jesus all the way. He got the rope and he was dragged to safety.
Eventually a group of them were taken out in a boat and taken to a shelter. Please remember this man was about 70 or so and had been in the Navy during the Korean War. He did not have any food for 3 days and only one bottle of water. He had asked someone if he could have ONE drink of their water and they refused him. He did not know how he ended up at Shelby and did not even remember being taken there. His story was gripping- it made my heart hurt to know he was just one of so many that needed help and could not find it.
He lost everything he had, his War Medals- everything gone. We did what we could to clothe him and help him get in touch with his family- everything worked out by God's grace and he was a huge impact on me and Richard!
I went through all that to tell you this part of the story....even though he had been through the worst part of Katrina, had been terrified and certain that he would die...the thing that made him cry was talking about the Korean War. He cried and cried when he talked about his friends that had died and the worst part was when he looked at Richard and me and he said, "Do you think God will ever forgive us for the horrible things we did to those people?" I lost it, Richard lost it. It broke my heart that for all these years he had been carrying around that burden and had never had the courage to ask someone or talk to God about it- because it was so awful to him.
So over this Memorial day, when you pray for our soldiers, pray for their peace of mind. Pray that they will understand we serve a forgiving God that loves them and paid a price for them much like the price they pay for us. Don't forget that when they come home, they have seen some terrible and unspeakable things and they could use a friend or a Savior. Offer them your hand, your shoulder, your love and support but most of all don't foget them.