FEMA trailer cities

An interesting brief article was just posted over at Relevant Magazine's website. It is one that is very relevant (no pun intended) to our circumstances here in New Orleans concerning FEMA trailer cities. If you don't live here, you might not be aware of the controversy swirling where neighborhoods shout, "no FEMA trailer cities in my backyard!"

It's funny how scared we Americans can be sometimes. We hold "safety" in such high regard. How often do we neglect basic tenets of our faith (reaching out to the poor, showing love to our neighbors and our enemies, etc.) for the sake of making our lives "safer."

Two quotes to ponder concerning this issue:

We cannot avoid risk even if we want to. Ignorance and uncertainty about tomorrow is our native air. All of our plans for tomorrow's activities can be shattered by a thousand unknowns whether we stay at home under the covers or ride the freeways. One of my aims is to explode the myth of safety and to somehow deliever you from the enchantment of security. Because it's a mirage. It doesn't exist. Every direction you turn there are unknowns and things beyond your control.
-John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, p. 81

poverty is so hard to see
when it's only on your TV and twenty miles across town
when we're all living so good
that we moved from Jesus' neighborhood
where he's hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
I want your time, I want your voice
I want the things you just can't give me
-Derek Webb, Rich Young Ruler from the CD Mockingbird.