Latest / Voices Of Life / Did You Know? - August 29: America in Crisis, Courage, and Turning Points

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Did You Know? - August 29: America in Crisis, Courage, and Turning Points · Voices Of Life

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  Welcome to the Did You Know series of the Voices
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  of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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  Life. A place where faith speaks, where history
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  breathes, and where hope finds its voice again.
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  Each episode is crafted to inspire, to strengthen,
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  and to guide you on your walk with God. And now,
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  to lead us through today's journey, here is your
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  host. Pastor David. Welcome to the Voices of
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  Life, a ministry of the Church for Life. I'm
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  Pastor David. As we gather for today's Did You
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  Know series, we pause to remember that history
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  is more than dates and battles. It is the story
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  of people, choices, consequences, and the grace
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  of God woven through every generation. August
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  29th has carried moments of conflict, courage,
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  disaster, and determination, yet In each chapter,
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  we see the same truth. God is present in every
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  season, guiding, correcting, strengthening, and
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  calling us to learn from what came before. So
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  today, as we walk through these events, let's
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  open our hearts to the lessons they offer. Let's
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  reflect on how far we've come, how much we've
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  endured, and how faithfully the Lord continues
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  to lead his people. So before we begin the August
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  29th timeline, here's a did you know about a
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  treaty often misattributed to this date. The
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  Treaty of Easton was a major diplomatic conference
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  between colonial officials and numerous native
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  tribes, including the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
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  Cayuga, Seneca, Tascarera, Delaware, and Shawnee.
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  It addressed land disputes, alliances, prisoner
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  negotiations, and the restoration of the chain
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  of friendship. Although the treaty concluded
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  October 26, 1758, it remains a powerful reminder
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  that Native nations were not passive observers
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  in colonial America. They negotiated. strategized,
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  and shape the future of the continent. So when
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  you hear people say, oh, you're on stolen land,
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  that is absolutely a myth, false, and an outright
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  lie. Now, there's not to say there were some
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  battles and some things that went on later on
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  that caused the United States to annex some property,
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  but that's in a different era. We're talking
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  about here and now on most of these properties,
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  there's a treaty. There's a negotiation. There's
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  a give and take. That's how it worked. So, let's
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  move on. Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778.
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  The British had occupied Newport for two years.
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  America's new ally, France, arrived with a powerful
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  fleet, raising hopes of a decisive victory. But
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  nature intervened. A violent Atlantic storm crippled
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  both navies, forcing the French to withdraw.
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  On August 29th, British forces attacked retreating
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  Americans on Aquadenec Island. The battle ended
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  without a clear winner, but it demonstrated the
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  challenge of coordinating multinational operations
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  and highlighted the bravery of the 1st Rhode
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  Island Regiment composed of Blacks and Native
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  American soldiers. We move on to the Battle of
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  Newton. august 29 1779 one year later on the
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  same date general george washington's strategy
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  took a harsh turn washington ordered general
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  sullivan to break the british iroquois alliance
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  by destroying villages crops food supplies and
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  on august 29 sullivan's army confronted a combined
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  force of iroquois warriors loyalists and british
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  officers near newton American artillery shattered
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  the defensive line. The victory opened the door
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  to a devastating campaign that uprooted entire
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  Native communities, one of the most consequential
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  and tragic operations of the Revolutionary War.
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  We turn ourselves now to Shays' Rebellion. On
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  August 29, 1786, Shays' Rebellion begins. Hundreds
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  of armed farmers and Revolutionary War veterans
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  marched into Northampton, Massachusetts. Their
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  goal? Stop the court from seizing property for
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  unpaid debts. On August 29th, they surrounded
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  the courthouse and shut it down. The moment exposed
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  the weakness of the Articles of Confederation.
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  The national government had no standing army,
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  no reliable revenue, and no ability to respond
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  to internal disorder. Shea's rebellion didn't
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  create the Constitution, but it... became one
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  of the clearest warnings that America needed
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  a stronger national government. Day two of the
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  Second Battle of Bull Run on Manassas, August
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  29, 1862, Union General John Pope believed he
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  had trapped Stonewall Jackson. He launched repeated
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  attacks throughout the day, but Jackson held
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  firm. Meanwhile, Confederate General James Longstreet's
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  corps was arriving. The next day, Longstreet
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  unleashed the massive assault that crushed the
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  Union left and forced retreat toward Washington.
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  Second Bull Run opened the door for Robert E.
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  Lee's first invasion of the North, leading directly
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  to Antietam. This day had a lot of uprisings
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  because on August 29, 1944, Slovak National Uprising.
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  German forces had entered Slovakia, triggering
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  a major anti -Nazi revolt. Slovak soldiers, partisans,
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  and resistance groups sought to expel German
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  forces, overthrow the collaborationist government,
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  rejoin the Allies, and restore Czechoslovakia's
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  state. The uprising briefly controlled large
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  areas of central Slovakia before being crushed
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  in October, but resistance continued, and the
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  event remains a powerful symbol of Slovak opposition
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  to Nazi domination. So let's talk about the National
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  Park Service on August 25, 1916, which is context
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  for August 29. Although not an August 29 event,
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  the creation of the National Park Service is
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  too important to leave out. President Woodrow
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  Wilson signed the Organic Act on August 25, 1916,
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  establishing the National Park Service to preserve
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  scenery, protect wildlife, safeguard historic
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  objects, provide public enjoyment, Ensure resources
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  remain unimpaired for future generations. From
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  35 parks and monuments at its founding, this
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  system now includes 433 units and over 85 million
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  acres. That's huge. A reminder that stewardship
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  of America's natural beauty is a national responsibility.
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  We need to make sure future generations can see
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  all the beautiful things we get to see today,
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  and more. Now for you sci -fi fans, Star Trek,
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  the original series, began on August 29th, 1966.
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  It was the story development. So here's a fun
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  cultural did you know. The original Star Trek
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  did not premiere on August 29th, but the first
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  broadcast episode aired on September 8th, 1966.
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  But August 29th... does appear in Star Trek history.
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  Story outlines for episodes including early development
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  for work, the Alternative Factor, and the iconic
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  Space Seed, which introduced Khan, were dated
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  August 29, 1966. So while not a premiere date,
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  August 29 marks a moment when the creative engine
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  behind Star Trek was firing up, just days before
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  the world first heard the words space. The Final
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  Frontier. Wonderful show, and it's a shame that
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  NBC canceled it after three years, but heck,
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  it did so much better later on and continues
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  today. Although today they have a few things
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  they're trying to work out, but it will continue.
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  Now, this date also reminds us of disaster. Hurricane
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  Katrina, August 29, 2005. So the most consequential
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  modern event tied to this date began at sunrise
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  on August 29th. Hurricane Katrina made landfall
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  near Burrus, Louisiana, with winds of around
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  127 miles an hour. But the true catastrophe unfolded
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  in the hours that followed. Katrina reached Category
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  5 intensity the day before. Peak winds of 175
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  miles per hour. Minimum pressure 902 millibars.
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  Among the lowest ever recorded in the Atlantic.
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  There was storm surge. The Mississippi coast
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  on record said 24 to 28 feet. Well, I can tell
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  you, I was there for the aftermath just a couple
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  days later, and it was higher than that. It was
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  more around 35 or 40 feet. And I'll tell you
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  why after a while. One of the highest surges
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  ever measured in the United States. New Orleans
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  flooding. Approximately 80 % of the city flooded
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  due to the levees failure. I remember the mayor
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  saying on radio, his name was Nagin. He said,
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  we dodged the bullet. And the next day, the levees
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  failed. The flood wall collapsed, overtopping,
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  systematic infrastructure weakness. Most people
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  ran. For their lives, they ran to the Superdome,
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  they went to all kinds of places. Even law enforcement
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  fled. Fire fled. It was really a mess. The human
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  impact. The entire neighborhood submerged. Tens
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  of thousands stranded. Communications crippled.
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  Emergency management overwhelmed. The national
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  consequences were Katrina reshaped American thinking
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  about disaster preparedness. Federal -state coordination.
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  evacuation planning, infrastructure resilience,
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  and the true role of FEMA. It just showed our
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  urban vulnerability. It remains one of the most
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  studied disasters in American history. Now, three
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  days after the disaster, I was deployed there
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  for a month. I was there as a law enforcement
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  officer, so I saw everything firsthand. It was
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  so sad. And where the water went from the beaches
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  on the Gulf inward, miles, like 10, 11, 12 miles
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  it was in there. It went past US -90. It went
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  past the railroad. It went past I -10. And even
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  at I -10, near a development that had houses
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  and its own little private airfield called Diamond
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  Head, the water there was still 12 feet. But
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  where we camped out by the Walmart, on the U
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  .S. highway, the water went over the building.
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  And that building at Walmart, you go look at
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  your super Walmarts and you figure out how high
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  that is. That's about 35, 40 feet. So it was
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  horrific in that respect. The police officers
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  that were there said that the water level went
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  from their ankles to their neck in less than
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  30 minutes. They climbed to their second story,
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  climbed up on their roof. And thank God they
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  were able to save themselves. So I patrolled
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  there, went there, helped people, got them food,
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  helped organize the American Red Cross relief
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  debit cards. There were lines for blocks and
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  blocks. And for this magnitude, nobody was prepared.
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  I hate to say it, but I came up with the idea
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  to the Red Cross coordinator. I said, look, you've
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  got blocks and blocks of people. You're not going
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  to get to them today. Why don't we give them
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  numbers and have them come back the next day?
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  She thought it was a brilliant idea. We did.
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  Except she decided to move the place where we
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  were at some park. She wanted to move it like
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  five blocks away. And like people are going to
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  come back here and we're going to end up with
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  two lines. And that's exactly what happened the
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  next day. So coordination is so important. And
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  you have to give people something to... count
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  on so i'm telling you this from my own experience
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  i feel it's important to interject this here
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  because it was a massive disaster and when i
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  drove through there five years later some of
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  the stuff still looked the same it hadn't been
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  touched this was wavelength mississippi uh bay
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  st louis um purlington that those areas are there
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  she had a rural he had a small two small communities
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  and Unbelievable. Just totally unbelievable.
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  I took so many photos to document all the things
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  that can happen because I went through Hurricane
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  Andrew in 1992, and I was grateful for all the
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  assistance of people coming to help us, and this
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  was my first chance to actually give back in
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  a very hands -on, meaningful way. So my deployment
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  there, it was absolutely voluntary, and it was
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  absolutely my pleasure to do so. So I just want
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  to bring that up. So on August 29, it's a day
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  of alliances formed, communities destroyed, governments
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  challenged, armies tested, and cities overwhelmed.
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  It is a day that reveals how America responds
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  to crisis, whether on the battlefield, in the
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  courtroom, or against forces of nature. We close
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  today's journey through history. I want to leave
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  you with this reminder. Every generation faces
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  its storms, its battles, its moments of uncertainty.
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  But God has never abandoned his people. Not in
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  the revolution. Not in the civil war. Not in
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  tragedies in modern life. And not today. The
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  stories we heard are more than historical facts.
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  They are invitations. Calling us to be wise,
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  to be grateful, to be courageous. and to be faithful
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  stewards of the time God has given us. May the
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  Lord bless you and keep you. May he strengthen
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  your heart, steady your steps, and fill your
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  home with peace. And may we continue to learn
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  from yesterday so we can walk boldly into tomorrow.
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  This is Pastor David reminding you that every
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  day is a chance to live with purpose, walk with
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  grace, and shine with the light of Christ. I'll
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  see you next time on Voices of Life. Did you
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  know? Thank you for joining us today on the Voices
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  of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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  Life. As we close, may the stories we share strengthen
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  your faith, steady your heart, and remind you
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  that God is present in every chapter of your
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  journey. If this episode encouraged you, share
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  it with someone who needs hope. And until we
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  meet again, walk in truth, stand in courage,
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  and keep listening for the voice that leads you
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  forward. This has been Voices of Life. Peace
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  be with you.