My Presence Will Go With You
David E. Crosby, Pastor
First Baptist New Orleans
January 31, 2008
The people craft and worship a golden calf while Moses in on Mount Sinai communing with God, we read this week (see fbno.org; more info on YOTM; daily reading plan).
Moses breaks the tablets of the 10 Commandments written by the finger of God when he sees the people worshipping the gold calf.
God threatens to kill the Hebrews and refuses to accompany them any longer.
Moses has a long discussion with God about God’s presence with the Hebrews on the journey to the Promised Land.
God promises Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). In the context of the sinfulness and stubbornness of Israel, God makes a covenant with them. They will be his people, and he will be their God.
You could hardly imagine a more difficult beginning to a covenant that this one. The Hebrew people seem absolutely untrustworthy, unpredictable, and unreliable. But God is willing to display his glory in the earth through them anyway.
You and I, too, have made the golden calf and shattered the 10 Commandments. We think it’s all over between us and God. We have sensed his displeasure, and we have known the alienation with God that puts a stopper on our prayers and pulls us back when we think we might approach him.
Let the hope rise like a flame from the ashes! God is not done with his people. His Presence is not withdrawn, and his peace is still available. He is longsuffering, full of tender mercies. His lovingkindness is better than life.
Embrace his offer of love and forgiveness. Take his hand and never let go.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Don't Mess with Me
Sometimes you don’t want anyone messing with you. My 80-year-old father-in-law has reached that point. He jerked out all the tubes yesterday and insisted on going home. He is in ICU.
ICU stands for intensive care unit. It’s a place where people care for you very carefully, constantly, and intimately. They care so much that you have almost no privacy—well, no privacy, period. They care for you 24 hours a day so you cannot really sleep unless they give you a pill that keeps you under when they’re fooling with your IV, taking your blood pressure and temperature, and checking the beeping machine at 2 a.m.
It really is intensive.
And it’s a lot to put up with, especially when you are old and hurting and want to go home.
Jesus said to Peter, “When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).
There you go. It’s the perfect description of old age. And you arrive there remembering the times when you were in charge, in control of the thundering machines, and nobody messed with you.
You stretch out your hands. It’s an act of surrender. Those still-powerful hands have held the babies, gripped the plow, pulled the levers, steered that 18-wheeler around the mountains, wielded the iron wrench that turned the stubborn valve, and cracked a thousand other counter-forces through sheer will power and physical strength.
I remember when Jack tried to teach me how to “peel pecans” with a pocketknife. I saw him cutting through those shells like butter, taking out the meat in whole sections, and I wanted to do the same. I took his knife and cut up my thumb, but my hands weren’t strong enough to push that sharp knife through the wooden shell. I realized again how strong his hands were.
Now they stretch out, palms up, and yield to the demands of the tiny nurse at the bedside. When days have passed and the drugs are coursing through your tired veins and you don’t know whether its sunup or sundown and nothing makes much sense anymore, that’s when you stretch out your hands and let them lead you where you do not want to go.
The faces bob around you, faces of people who really care intensely for you, frantic to help you out of your pain and into tomorrow. But you know—and they know—that all the tests and medicines in the world can’t really fix what’s wrong with you.
Peter was upset about the Lord’s comments to him. He saw John and asked, “What about him?”
And Jesus replied, “That’s not your business. You follow me.”
And so, in the end, we come back to the beginning. We yield to the One who started us on the journey of faith and promise. We follow the one who called us years ago. We continue to do exactly what we have done for all these years.
We trust and obey. We turn our palms upward and go where we are led. We follow, not the nurse or the family, but the Lord himself who walks before us and beside us all the way Home.
ICU stands for intensive care unit. It’s a place where people care for you very carefully, constantly, and intimately. They care so much that you have almost no privacy—well, no privacy, period. They care for you 24 hours a day so you cannot really sleep unless they give you a pill that keeps you under when they’re fooling with your IV, taking your blood pressure and temperature, and checking the beeping machine at 2 a.m.
It really is intensive.
And it’s a lot to put up with, especially when you are old and hurting and want to go home.
Jesus said to Peter, “When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).
There you go. It’s the perfect description of old age. And you arrive there remembering the times when you were in charge, in control of the thundering machines, and nobody messed with you.
You stretch out your hands. It’s an act of surrender. Those still-powerful hands have held the babies, gripped the plow, pulled the levers, steered that 18-wheeler around the mountains, wielded the iron wrench that turned the stubborn valve, and cracked a thousand other counter-forces through sheer will power and physical strength.
I remember when Jack tried to teach me how to “peel pecans” with a pocketknife. I saw him cutting through those shells like butter, taking out the meat in whole sections, and I wanted to do the same. I took his knife and cut up my thumb, but my hands weren’t strong enough to push that sharp knife through the wooden shell. I realized again how strong his hands were.
Now they stretch out, palms up, and yield to the demands of the tiny nurse at the bedside. When days have passed and the drugs are coursing through your tired veins and you don’t know whether its sunup or sundown and nothing makes much sense anymore, that’s when you stretch out your hands and let them lead you where you do not want to go.
The faces bob around you, faces of people who really care intensely for you, frantic to help you out of your pain and into tomorrow. But you know—and they know—that all the tests and medicines in the world can’t really fix what’s wrong with you.
Peter was upset about the Lord’s comments to him. He saw John and asked, “What about him?”
And Jesus replied, “That’s not your business. You follow me.”
And so, in the end, we come back to the beginning. We yield to the One who started us on the journey of faith and promise. We follow the one who called us years ago. We continue to do exactly what we have done for all these years.
We trust and obey. We turn our palms upward and go where we are led. We follow, not the nurse or the family, but the Lord himself who walks before us and beside us all the way Home.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Want to Open a Day Care?
By
First Baptist New
January 24, 2008
You would think that facilitating the opening of day care centers in Orleans Parish would be one of the highest priorities of our city government.
Think again.
The storm shut down two-thirds of the licensed centers in the parish. The number of operating centers dropped from more than 275 to 86 in the entire parish.
Thirty months later that number has crept back to 96. Ten centers have been licensed since the storm. A young father told me last week that his unborn child was on a 500-name waiting list for infant care. Two centers in our city have more than 800 children on their waiting lists.
I know the story of two churches that still await permission from local government to take care of the preschoolers of working parents.
First Baptist New Orleans, operating in a nearly new facility and with existing licensure to care for preschoolers part-time four days a week, has worked now for more than eight months to achieve licensure for full day care. We replaced our two-hole sink with a three-hole sink. We installed additional alarms. We secured the approval of the health department and the fire marshal. As far as I know, we completed everything the state and city wanted us to do—four months ago.
We called City Hall 20 times and left messages. The office was too busy to answer with a living human being. We sent emails. We arrived in person at the appropriate office. We were told they could not find a building permit for the construction work on the church. We resolved that misunderstanding after two months by communicating that we are using an existing building for the center, not constructing a new one.
The licensing process for another church has been similar but longer—14 months and still no permission to care for kids.
I know that good people with good intentions are working to grant these permits. We don’t want unsafe conditions for the little ones. I know our city employees are trying to follow procedure and protect children.
And I know that this is no way to respond to an emergency shortage of child care in our city. It illustrates a systemic problem at both the local and state level. It is the reason that many people who want to do business here decide to go elsewhere.
This cumbersome process consumes personal energy, frustrates citizens, and finally steals their enthusiasm and interest for the projects they wanted to launch.
We can do better, and we must do better if our economic future as a city and state is to be different than our past.
Here are a few suggestions.
First, treat requests for licensing day care centers with the urgency and priority that they deserve in our city at this time. We need a hundred new centers open yesterday. Young families moving into our city simply cannot find quality, affordable child care. The permitting process is part of the problem. Let’s fix it.
Second, consolidate all necessary information into one simple and easy-to-understand packet and process. Stop sending citizens from pillar to post, floor to floor in City Hall, and person to person. Showing up downtown should not be a necessary part of this formula.
Third, develop a strategy to assist churches in their quest for licensing. In many cases they already have facilities built for children that are empty during the week. Many churches are well-equipped to provide this service in the community, and many are willing to subsidize costs by providing space without market-value reimbursement.
Fourth, provide economic incentives for new day care centers that will lower the costs and increase their profitability. While our church day care center will be nonprofit, many people are eager to provide child care as a way to make a living.
Somebody can figure this out. Let’s do it now and fix this glaring deficiency in our recovering city.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Calamity Bears Down on Opportunity
That “caught in the headlights” syndrome can be dangerous, even deadly, as I was reminded last week on a trip to the south Mississippi piney woods.
A whitetail deer galloped down the pavement for 20 yards immediately in front of my vehicle. The yearling doe was so close to contact that the hood of the car partially obscured my view of her. She seemed trapped by the headlights in the evening hour, and glanced back toward me with fear more than once.
The doe entered my peripheral vision on the left. Janet saw her coming toward us and called out a warning. I hit the brakes hard and thought she had darted safely across the road.
She swerved, however, and began to race in front of our still-moving vehicle, and Janet cried out, “We’re going to hit it!”
I cannot say for sure that our grill never touched her. But I do know that she bounded safely off the road and into the pine grove and left us both breathless, hearts pounding, with vehicles lined up behind.
We grew up driving in Mills County, Texas, and have struck deer with vehicles more than once. It’s never a pleasant experience and often costly. The greatest danger to humans in vehicles is that they will hurt themselves or others while trying to avoid the animal. Experienced drivers generally stay in their lanes and avoid rear-end collisions even if it means one less whitetail browsing on mesquite beans.
What got me this time was the way the doe turned her head toward the headlights and watched them approach with her brown eyes wide open. I know she could have run faster or taken a safer course had she not been twisted sideways to catch a good view of the oncoming disaster.
All God’s creatures, including deer and humans, may be momentarily captivated by pending tumult, terror, and tragedy. Which of us could turn aside when the twin towers began to crumble?
Part of New Orleans’ endearing and conversational culture is its capacity for thoughtful, front-porch contemplation in the moment of potential disintegration.
At this point in our history we must not be caught ruminating when we should be acting. Almost any action is better than none when the train is bearing down on you. When the warning whistle blows, delay is your worst enemy.
We have arrived at our all-stops-pulled moment. Repopulation is slowing dramatically. By the thousands and tens of thousands, people near and far are reaching the moment of decision about New Orleans.
The time has come to establish a new trajectory. We cannot watch these headlights anymore. We must discover the path that will likely lead to new opportunity, economic advance, and community renewal and dart through that open door.
We have gathered around the plans and examined the blueprints long enough. Let the floodgates open. Release the new ideas. Turn your dreams into brick and mortar now.
What seems like a daring initiative is actually the only way forward for our families and our community. To get out on a limb is no risk at all when the tree itself is quivering. A comprehensive mobilization of our population across the fields of education, criminal justice, health care, housing, and economic development will secure our city’s finest future.
Staring at those headlights does not make you safer. Get up and at it or resign yourself to the dismal fate that overtakes those who cannot move when calamity bears down on opportunity.
A whitetail deer galloped down the pavement for 20 yards immediately in front of my vehicle. The yearling doe was so close to contact that the hood of the car partially obscured my view of her. She seemed trapped by the headlights in the evening hour, and glanced back toward me with fear more than once.
The doe entered my peripheral vision on the left. Janet saw her coming toward us and called out a warning. I hit the brakes hard and thought she had darted safely across the road.
She swerved, however, and began to race in front of our still-moving vehicle, and Janet cried out, “We’re going to hit it!”
I cannot say for sure that our grill never touched her. But I do know that she bounded safely off the road and into the pine grove and left us both breathless, hearts pounding, with vehicles lined up behind.
We grew up driving in Mills County, Texas, and have struck deer with vehicles more than once. It’s never a pleasant experience and often costly. The greatest danger to humans in vehicles is that they will hurt themselves or others while trying to avoid the animal. Experienced drivers generally stay in their lanes and avoid rear-end collisions even if it means one less whitetail browsing on mesquite beans.
What got me this time was the way the doe turned her head toward the headlights and watched them approach with her brown eyes wide open. I know she could have run faster or taken a safer course had she not been twisted sideways to catch a good view of the oncoming disaster.
All God’s creatures, including deer and humans, may be momentarily captivated by pending tumult, terror, and tragedy. Which of us could turn aside when the twin towers began to crumble?
Part of New Orleans’ endearing and conversational culture is its capacity for thoughtful, front-porch contemplation in the moment of potential disintegration.
At this point in our history we must not be caught ruminating when we should be acting. Almost any action is better than none when the train is bearing down on you. When the warning whistle blows, delay is your worst enemy.
We have arrived at our all-stops-pulled moment. Repopulation is slowing dramatically. By the thousands and tens of thousands, people near and far are reaching the moment of decision about New Orleans.
The time has come to establish a new trajectory. We cannot watch these headlights anymore. We must discover the path that will likely lead to new opportunity, economic advance, and community renewal and dart through that open door.
We have gathered around the plans and examined the blueprints long enough. Let the floodgates open. Release the new ideas. Turn your dreams into brick and mortar now.
What seems like a daring initiative is actually the only way forward for our families and our community. To get out on a limb is no risk at all when the tree itself is quivering. A comprehensive mobilization of our population across the fields of education, criminal justice, health care, housing, and economic development will secure our city’s finest future.
Staring at those headlights does not make you safer. Get up and at it or resign yourself to the dismal fate that overtakes those who cannot move when calamity bears down on opportunity.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Homelessness Comes to Church
My shoes were covered with his tears. My suit was stained with his tears. He just could not stop crying.
His name was Charles. That’s all I learned from him when he came for prayer. He was so overcome with emotion he could not speak.
I prayed with him and promised to talk afterward, and he returned to his place in the pew.
Charles is one of the homeless people who live in tents under the interstate bridge on Claiborne Street. Mark, a man in our church who ministers to the homeless, picked him up that morning, along with two others, and brought them to church.
The message I brought that day was about Abraham, the father of the faithful, and how he lived in tents like a stranger in the Promised Land. I did not realize when I preached the message that at least three people in the congregation actually lived in tents themselves.
Charles said he is drug-free and sober but unemployed. God is using him, he said, to minister to the people in the tent community who are “fighting their demons,” so he is not anxious to relocate. The population in the tents changes continually yet is stabilized by longer term residents who know one another and watch out for each other.
The New Orleans Mission has expanded its capacity in a variety of ways. The large shelter we recently constructed for this emergency will open when the inspection by the state fire marshal is done. Then the mission will have capacity to accommodate everyone in the tent community who wishes to sleep indoors.
The highly visible homelessness in New Orleans these days came as something of a surprise. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina the homeless were gone. Providers of homeless services in the city guessed that homelessness was at a very low level and that it would be five years before the city would see any resurgence of that population.
Overnight, it seemed, a homeless population appeared, a homeless community formed, and it became a highly visible part of our post-Katrina puzzle. Homeless services, including health care and housing, continue to be quite limited in our city, though the capacities of the various shelters are steadily growing.
We hear reports of thousands of people living in abandoned houses in the areas devastated by flooding. These people are at high risk in many ways but especially from criminals who now prey on the migrant workers, the transient, and the elderly. One older man finally moved into his rehabilitated home this week only to be assaulted and murdered.
A hundred square miles of neighborhoods in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes went under water during the great storm. These vast stretches of houses, numbering near 150,000 structures, vary greatly in their current condition and population. Some areas where few people have returned are simply dangerous places to reside.
Long term solutions to our homeless crisis will come very slowly. Homelessness itself is a complicated phenomenon with a wide variety of social and personal causes. Even in “normal” conditions urban communities are hard-pressed to manage, let alone solve, this social puzzle.
The restoration of medical services and residential treatment centers for the mentally ill may do more than any single development to meet the need on the street in New Orleans. Persons suffering from mental illness may constitute a quarter of our current homeless population.
Housing for our workforce in New Orleans remains in short supply and terribly expensive. A high percentage of the current homeless population passing through the New Orleans Mission actually have jobs, according to director Ron Gonzales, but they cannot afford the post-Katrina rents.
Homeownership is the best solution for many in the workforce. Single family home construction projects like the one by Habitat for Humanity and the Baptist Crossroads Project in the Upper Ninth Ward help secure a stable financial future for many families. Homeowners are more likely than renters to keep their properties well-maintained. They pay property taxes directly, another level of investment in the community. And their monthly outlay of cash builds their personal wealth and develops a financial legacy for their families.
A hundred homes have been completed in New Orleans through Habitat partnerships since the storm, and hundreds more are planned. Thousands of volunteers are already committed for blitz building by the Baptist Crossroad Project during Spring Break and the coming summer months. This reproducible and sustainable model for the economic transformation of families deserves full support and cooperation from all community entities, public and private. It addresses many aspects of our recovery by providing safe, new, and affordable houses for families in our workforce.
His name was Charles. That’s all I learned from him when he came for prayer. He was so overcome with emotion he could not speak.
I prayed with him and promised to talk afterward, and he returned to his place in the pew.
Charles is one of the homeless people who live in tents under the interstate bridge on Claiborne Street. Mark, a man in our church who ministers to the homeless, picked him up that morning, along with two others, and brought them to church.
The message I brought that day was about Abraham, the father of the faithful, and how he lived in tents like a stranger in the Promised Land. I did not realize when I preached the message that at least three people in the congregation actually lived in tents themselves.
Charles said he is drug-free and sober but unemployed. God is using him, he said, to minister to the people in the tent community who are “fighting their demons,” so he is not anxious to relocate. The population in the tents changes continually yet is stabilized by longer term residents who know one another and watch out for each other.
The New Orleans Mission has expanded its capacity in a variety of ways. The large shelter we recently constructed for this emergency will open when the inspection by the state fire marshal is done. Then the mission will have capacity to accommodate everyone in the tent community who wishes to sleep indoors.
The highly visible homelessness in New Orleans these days came as something of a surprise. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina the homeless were gone. Providers of homeless services in the city guessed that homelessness was at a very low level and that it would be five years before the city would see any resurgence of that population.
Overnight, it seemed, a homeless population appeared, a homeless community formed, and it became a highly visible part of our post-Katrina puzzle. Homeless services, including health care and housing, continue to be quite limited in our city, though the capacities of the various shelters are steadily growing.
We hear reports of thousands of people living in abandoned houses in the areas devastated by flooding. These people are at high risk in many ways but especially from criminals who now prey on the migrant workers, the transient, and the elderly. One older man finally moved into his rehabilitated home this week only to be assaulted and murdered.
A hundred square miles of neighborhoods in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes went under water during the great storm. These vast stretches of houses, numbering near 150,000 structures, vary greatly in their current condition and population. Some areas where few people have returned are simply dangerous places to reside.
Long term solutions to our homeless crisis will come very slowly. Homelessness itself is a complicated phenomenon with a wide variety of social and personal causes. Even in “normal” conditions urban communities are hard-pressed to manage, let alone solve, this social puzzle.
The restoration of medical services and residential treatment centers for the mentally ill may do more than any single development to meet the need on the street in New Orleans. Persons suffering from mental illness may constitute a quarter of our current homeless population.
Housing for our workforce in New Orleans remains in short supply and terribly expensive. A high percentage of the current homeless population passing through the New Orleans Mission actually have jobs, according to director Ron Gonzales, but they cannot afford the post-Katrina rents.
Homeownership is the best solution for many in the workforce. Single family home construction projects like the one by Habitat for Humanity and the Baptist Crossroads Project in the Upper Ninth Ward help secure a stable financial future for many families. Homeowners are more likely than renters to keep their properties well-maintained. They pay property taxes directly, another level of investment in the community. And their monthly outlay of cash builds their personal wealth and develops a financial legacy for their families.
A hundred homes have been completed in New Orleans through Habitat partnerships since the storm, and hundreds more are planned. Thousands of volunteers are already committed for blitz building by the Baptist Crossroad Project during Spring Break and the coming summer months. This reproducible and sustainable model for the economic transformation of families deserves full support and cooperation from all community entities, public and private. It addresses many aspects of our recovery by providing safe, new, and affordable houses for families in our workforce.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A New Birth of Public Service
Pastors teach that leadership is a spiritual gift. Governor Bobby Jindal has that gift. It was evident during the campaign and, especially, on his inauguration day.
The Governor sets before us a compelling vision. He dreams of a Louisiana where government is just and efficient. He describes a state that not only keeps its young talent and energy but draws entrepreneurs from around the nation and the world. He envisions both changes to the mindset and changes to the structures and systems in our state.
Our Governor is looking to create a state government that deliberately and consistently serves the people rather than serving itself. This vision of creating true public service among our public servants strikes a chord with all Louisianians.
We share the new Governor’s dislike and disdain for unnecessary bureaucracy and endless red tape. We want our public employees, elected and appointed, to respond with delight and energy when we tell them we are trying to launch a new business or expand a current one. We don’t like the domination of the idea of government "permits." It conveys to us that government is paternalistic, distrustful and afraid of its entrepreneurs. It says to us that someone somewhere is sitting in an office waiting to delay and obstruct our progress with a dozen obscure documents and interwoven treks to untold other government employees sitting in their offices.
The idea of government "permission" for the implementation of new business ventures conveys no sense of urgency or immediacy. Bureaucracy cannot really process the idea of an "emergency." A bureaucrat will sit in his chair while the city is burning and wait for someone to bring him the correct form before he turns on the water.
Police and fire departments are organized to respond with immediacy and energy to any call for assistance. That is what citizens of our city and state long to see in the government offices overseeing building and business permits. We want our public servants to lunge out of their chairs when they hear a new business venture is in the works. We want them to give us a call.
"Say, this is the permitting office at Baton Rouge. I hear you’ve got a new idea for alternative fuels. How can I help you make that idea happen?"
We want to change the mindset from government "permission" to true government service. We want our state and city departments organized around the notion of quick response to new initiatives rather than continual delay. This change is warranted because the clock is ticking. We should all be operating in emergency mode in regard to economic development, housing, heath care, education, and criminal justice.
This change of mindset and approach does not require a loosening of necessary safeguards for our citizens. We want buildings to be safe for occupancy and vehicles to be safe for driving. But we are ready to end the protectionism and territorialism that plagues our public institutions.
Governor Jindal is ready to create a new culture for government and industry in our state. Everyone can help. Nonprofits can examine their operating systems for waste and delay in service to the people. Businesses can begin now to plan expanded services.
Employees in the government sector should make certain that "serve" and "protect" are on an equal footing in their areas of concern. A sense of urgency concerning the development of business, health care, education, housing, and criminal justice must permeate all of our public institutions. Quick response to requests for inspections should become a high priority in all permitting offices.
Departments of state, as well as other organizations, may evolve over time into self-serving institutions—entities without a clear sense of mission that exist primarily to care for employees of that institution. When that happens in our public institutions we no longer have "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
A new day will dawn in Louisiana as a new attitude of urgency and service permeates our public sector. While individual efforts to recover from the devastation have been Herculean and the churches and nonprofits have been lauded for their response, everyone recognizes the key role of government agencies in facilitating and accelerating our move from last in line to first in opportunity.
The Governor sets before us a compelling vision. He dreams of a Louisiana where government is just and efficient. He describes a state that not only keeps its young talent and energy but draws entrepreneurs from around the nation and the world. He envisions both changes to the mindset and changes to the structures and systems in our state.
Our Governor is looking to create a state government that deliberately and consistently serves the people rather than serving itself. This vision of creating true public service among our public servants strikes a chord with all Louisianians.
We share the new Governor’s dislike and disdain for unnecessary bureaucracy and endless red tape. We want our public employees, elected and appointed, to respond with delight and energy when we tell them we are trying to launch a new business or expand a current one. We don’t like the domination of the idea of government "permits." It conveys to us that government is paternalistic, distrustful and afraid of its entrepreneurs. It says to us that someone somewhere is sitting in an office waiting to delay and obstruct our progress with a dozen obscure documents and interwoven treks to untold other government employees sitting in their offices.
The idea of government "permission" for the implementation of new business ventures conveys no sense of urgency or immediacy. Bureaucracy cannot really process the idea of an "emergency." A bureaucrat will sit in his chair while the city is burning and wait for someone to bring him the correct form before he turns on the water.
Police and fire departments are organized to respond with immediacy and energy to any call for assistance. That is what citizens of our city and state long to see in the government offices overseeing building and business permits. We want our public servants to lunge out of their chairs when they hear a new business venture is in the works. We want them to give us a call.
"Say, this is the permitting office at Baton Rouge. I hear you’ve got a new idea for alternative fuels. How can I help you make that idea happen?"
We want to change the mindset from government "permission" to true government service. We want our state and city departments organized around the notion of quick response to new initiatives rather than continual delay. This change is warranted because the clock is ticking. We should all be operating in emergency mode in regard to economic development, housing, heath care, education, and criminal justice.
This change of mindset and approach does not require a loosening of necessary safeguards for our citizens. We want buildings to be safe for occupancy and vehicles to be safe for driving. But we are ready to end the protectionism and territorialism that plagues our public institutions.
Governor Jindal is ready to create a new culture for government and industry in our state. Everyone can help. Nonprofits can examine their operating systems for waste and delay in service to the people. Businesses can begin now to plan expanded services.
Employees in the government sector should make certain that "serve" and "protect" are on an equal footing in their areas of concern. A sense of urgency concerning the development of business, health care, education, housing, and criminal justice must permeate all of our public institutions. Quick response to requests for inspections should become a high priority in all permitting offices.
Departments of state, as well as other organizations, may evolve over time into self-serving institutions—entities without a clear sense of mission that exist primarily to care for employees of that institution. When that happens in our public institutions we no longer have "government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
A new day will dawn in Louisiana as a new attitude of urgency and service permeates our public sector. While individual efforts to recover from the devastation have been Herculean and the churches and nonprofits have been lauded for their response, everyone recognizes the key role of government agencies in facilitating and accelerating our move from last in line to first in opportunity.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Faith Walking
What does it feel like to respond in faith to the call of God in our day? Walking in faith is exciting. You don’t know what’s around the
Walking in faith is so
Walking in faith is productive. You initiate new directions and travel places your friends and relatives are too afraid or too comforta
The productivity of the faith walk has
I don’t think faith walking necessarily involves geography. You could
Changes in geography are often necessary, however, as the stories of A
You cannot walk in faith, however, without leaving your mental and emotional comfort zone. Faith demands that you experience strangeness—
We want life to make sense. That means that we are most comforta
Faith is going 
ver
Great human endeavors, mighty transformations, earth-shaking innovations, and exhilarating journeys happen in the unknown spaces of faith.
Be an A
Listen closely to God’s Spirit. Every single day you have an opportunity to step
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