To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, mighty deeds....But one and the same Spirit produces all of these distributing them individually to each person as he wishes (I Cor. 12: 7-11).

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans turned into wild-west chaos.  Not only were people stranded on overpasses and in the Superdome without food and water, but bandit-gangs were making their way through the floodwaters looting and shooting.  In the midst of the chaos, with local public servants helpless to coordinate relief efforts for lack of communication, General Russel Honore stepped off a helicopter and things immediately began to change. 

Mayor Ray Nagin gave a radio interview on September 3, 2005, calling Honore "a John Wayne dude who can get some stuff done."  In Nagin's words, Honore "came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving."  Operating from a New Orleans street corner, Honore directed the deployment of 1,000 National Guard troops to restore order in the city, but he ordered them to "point their guns down," reminding them they were not in Iraq.

Honore later remarked that his first priority was getting food and water to the people in the convention center.  "If you have ever had 20,000 people come to supper,you know what I'm talking about,"  he said; "if it's easy, it would have been done already."

In the midst of the dark abyss, Honore did what God did at the time of Creation--he gradually began to restore order, harmony, and balance, bringing under control and pushing back the forces of darkness and destruction.  All of his knowledge, his training, his discipline, and of the power with which he had been entrusted had brought him to this moment in his life, and he was the one equal to the task that no one else could undertake.  

To each one a manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.....

In the time of Israel occuping the land of the warring Philistines, God always raised up a "judge" or leader to beat back the forces threatening to destroy his people.   During the captivity of the Jews under the Persian Empire, God raised up Esther "for such a time as this," for the preservation of his people.  What would have happened to the people in the Superdome after Katrina without General Honore is anyone's guess---but he was the man God raised up for the hour of crisis.  In a speech several years later, Honore was to remark that the two greatest days of a person's life were the day he/she was born, and the day he/she discovers why God put him/her on earth.  The Katrina crisis was the day Honore discovered why he had spent in entire life in training for that moment.

In all of our lives, we meet a time of crisis---perhaps not on the scale of Katrina-- but nevertheless threatening our survival as individuals, as families, etc.  Chaos in one form or another threatens to swallow us up.  But God said He would not leave us or abandon us.  Usually, just the right person appears, with the gift we need--a word of encouragement, the gift of wisdom and counsel, the knowledge to heal, or the resources to deliver us from evil. 

To each person, a manifestation is given for the common good.

I am so thankful for the wisdom and knowledge and training of my doctors in the hour of crisis; I am so thankful for the wisdom, knowledge, and training of those who taught me so that I could teach others; I am grateful to the Spirit for "orchestrating" the people in my life who brought me their individual gifts at a time of need. 

If we are willing, we too become one of the people sent by the Spirit with gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, healing, and "mighty deeds."

To each person, a manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.