After two weeks in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, one image from the devastation stands out starkly in my mind - steps to nowhere.  It was the first thing I noticed when I visited the devastated coastal neighborhoods of Ocean Springs and St. Martin.  Steps that once led to the front door of somebody's home, now lead to a concrete slab.  The house is gone, washed away by an unimaginable surge of water.

This morning, the local paper carried a photojournalistic piece on this very image.  I was not the only person struck by these stairways.  Some belong to apartment buildings, some to multi-million dollar homes, others to modest homes or even trailers. The hurricane did not judge the economic status of people.  All were treated as equals.

I know, however, that when I leave Mississippi on Wednesday morning, the steps to nowhere will not be what I remember most.  What I will remember most is the faces of the people who once walked those steps everyday, the people whom I have been blessed to meet through our distribution line.

I will remember the little boy who told me, "I love you," when I handed him a stuffed animal.  I will remember the man at the shelter who told me everyday that I was an angel for coming to help.  I will remember the blind man whom I delivered meals to and who remembered every tiny detail I ever told him about myself.  I will remember the many women who embraced me in gratitude for the goods we were able to load into their cars.  I will remember the people who can still laugh after all they have been through, as well as those who can only cry.

It is the people who will have the most lasting impact on me - not the images of destruction.  The people tell us time and time again what a blessing we are to them, but I think that every CAP relief worker would agree that they are equally a blessing to us. And I think that's exactly the way that God would want it.

Please keep our CAP family members who are tirelessly working to make a difference here and in Mississippi, along with the folks they are helping, in your prayers.