Responding to Katrina

As news of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina continues, you may be asking, "How can I help?"

Give...

The Salvation Army and the America Red Cross tell us the best way you can help is with a financial contribution.

To donate through the Red Cross, call 1-800-HELP -NOW, or go to www.redcross.org.

To donate through the Salvation Army, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or go to www.salvationarmyusa.org.

Also, bloggers will be uniting tomorrow for a concerted relief effort.

Pray!

If you can't give financially, don't underestimate the power of prayer. Include the victims, the rescue workers and the relief workers on your prayer list.

Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco is calling for a day of prayer today for residents of New Orleans. Says Blanco: "That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors." She added, "Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild."

Southern Baptist relief efforts

Meantime, AP reports that more than one-thousand Baptist volunteers have been mobilized to help victims of Hurricane Katrina in and around New Orleans. However, Joe Conway of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief says workers have had a hard time getting to the hardest-hit areas because of "the devastation of the storm, the rising flood waters, the damage to infrastructure."

Keep track of what's going on...

...through your favorite news sources and remarkable sites like the Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog.

...Word here on how the hurricane is affecting the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary...

Casting Crowns' members praying for friends in New Orleans

This also from AP: "Members of the Christian band
Casting Crowns are praying for their friends in hurricane-ravaged
New Orleans.
Lead singer and songwriter Mark Hall says, 'We have a lot
of friends down in the seminary in New Orleans, youth pastors,
worship leaders.'
He says, 'they're heavy on our heart.'
Casting Crowns performed in Louisiana in the spring and is
scheduled to return this fall."

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"In my mind I'm where I belong
As I rest in your arms
And like a child I hold on to you
In my moment of truth, yes I do

We can ride the storm
Endure the pain
You comfort me in my hurricane--"Mind's Eye"