One day we stopped for a closer look and discovered that the steeple had been a prominent part of the building that housed the Presbyterian Church of Gulfport for about 100 years. The flooding from Katrina destroyed the facility, leaving only its foundation and its steeple. As the raging water carried away the building, that same water set the steeple squarely back down on the property. The congregation plans to rebuild, and until then the steeple stands as a testimony to all the faithful who have witnessed to the Gospel through that church and a
promise that God will continue to do his redemptive work through the congregation that will one day return to serve the Lord in the center of the city.

March 23 is Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, a day of rebirth and renewal. Just as people in the Gulf are embracing a future filled with hope as they watch new life rise from the ruins left by the storm, so all of us can live in hope as we have a fresh encounter with the Risen Lord. We are a church of resurrection, an Easter people, and that means that no matter how difficult our circumstances might seem, God can make everything new and give life to all that appears to be dead. Easter means that God can take the broken pieces of our lives and rebuild them in such a way that we are stronger than we were before. May we never lose the hope we have in the Christ who has been raised from the dead and who invites us to live in the power of his resurrection.