When Daniel Boone was asked about being lost, his answer was, "I have never been lost. I have been confused for a few days at a time though. But when I am confused, I go back to where I came from and then I know where I am."

An interesting idea, but what do you do when you cannot go back to where you came from? In the wake of Hurricane Katrina there are literally thousands who have no place to go back to. The homes they lived in are gone, the businesses where they were employed are gone, and the way of life they knew is gone. What do you do when there is no place to go back to? As difficult as it may appear, the answer has only two alternatives. Go on to a new place or collapse and perish where you are. One of those is obviously unacceptable!

I have been encouraged by the number of those displaced persons with whom I have been counseling who are looking for the "new place." In the several days I have been working with these resilient people who have lost everything, I have found very few who do not have a positive attitude. It has been surprising to me that there are so many with such stamina. Almost with out exception, those with this attitude have a fundamental faith in the power of God in the lives of His children. I am not sure, but they may have actually done more for me than I have for them. I have not found one who "blames" God. I have not found one who has asked, "Why me?" The newscasters appear to single out the dissidents for their interviews. I know there must be many who share those views, but I have yet to have them expressed to me as a minister/counselor.

There is much to be learned from these resilient people. After all, God has made it clear that this new life we enter into as His children is a death to the old and a new birth into a fresh way of living. Perhaps that is what many of these people are experiencing. The decision which many Christians must make, that of "... forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what is ahead," (Philippians 3:13) is an absolute necessity if one is to reach that level of life to which the child of God is called.

Do we learn from the past? Hopefully.

I have not found one who "blames" God.
Are we affected by the past? Of course.

Must we be bound by the past? Absolutely not!

When one has left something secure, like Daniel Boone's home base, it is always good to know how to get back if we get "confused." However, if the past is a disaster, we must leave it behind and seek the future. When I talk with so many who have lost everything and are still looking to the future, it makes me aware of the power of faith and I too look forward instead of backward.