Kelley offers insights on coping with tragedy

As Hurricane Katrina barreled toward New Orleans in August 2005, Chuck Kelley was barreling toward Birmingham — in many ways, against his wishes.
  
“Never in my life had I left for a storm, and I didn’t want to leave the seminary,” said Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. “But it was in Birmingham that I found myself sitting on the end of my bed in a hotel watching as my whole world fell apart. In every sense of the word, it was totally and completely overwhelming.”
  
When a tragedy or heartache comes that’s harder than you’ve ever imagined, “deeper than you ever thought it could be,” what do you do? This was the question Kelley posed to the full house gathered at Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham, Feb. 26 for the evening session of the State Evangelism Conference.
 
 He answered it with lessons he’s learned since Katrina hit: 
   • Do not be surprised when you find yourself in the middle of a mess. “Sometimes tragedy is the consequence of sin, but some of your worst moments will not be your fault,” Kelley said. “When you are following Him, you are always secure but you are not always safe. Tragedy happens to everyone eventually.”
   • Do not think you are as alone as you feel.
   The knowledge that many lives were on hold pending his post-storm decisions weighed heavily on him, he said. “You feel alone. But almost immediately as I watched events unfold, a peace began to come over my soul — people were praying for me.”
   And as soon as the winds and waters stopped, Southern Baptists came, Kelley said. “It was a reminder that God never, ever leaves us alone.”
   • Do not think that your suffering is senseless or meaningless.
   When Kelley had to show faculty members a PowerPoint show of the campus and their homes at their first post-storm meeting, a new family burst into tears with each photo displayed.
   “I’ve never been in a room like that — it was the worst experience of our lives,” he said. “But I think we are going to discover that this tragedy is going to end up being the greatest highway for the gospel into New Orleans that we have ever seen.”
   The resistance to the gospel that was a spiritual trademark of the city is now gone, Kelley said. “We have a way now to share with them our hope and confidence in the love of God.”
   • Do not be afraid. “Whatever circumstance you find yourself in when it all falls apart — being fired from a church, the loss of a spouse, the loss of a child — don’t be afraid,” Kelley said.
   God is redeeming the tragedy of Katrina, he explained. 
   “When it’s your turn in the hard place … it will be the greatest taste of God’s grace you’ve ever had.” (TAB)