Bell Ringing for Jesus & Katrina

I've spent the vast majority of the past few days ringing bells - or at least standing by kettles representing The Salvation Army's response to Hurricane Katrina. My wife and I and a number of other volunteers all went to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre and stood in the blazing sun for hours at a time.

It was actually quite entertaining.

Friday night was Coldplay. Good crowd, good number of donations, good concert. We didn't stay for the whole thing, but it was good.

Yesterday was a Christian All Day Music Festival thing. Michael W. Smith and Jars of Clay were the big names. Not nearly as big of a crowd. Interestingly enough, the only real difference that I noticed between the Coldplay crowd and the Christian crowd was the much higher percentage of tacky t-shirts.

Today, was the 10th Weenie Roast with 3 Doors Down. Good show but HOT. I burned a little.

Only real interesting thing that happened was: as I was setting some stuff up, I passed the front gate (in my highly visible Sally Ann T) where I heard one of the younger workers say, "Oh, do they have those bells?" I can only assume that she was complaining about the incessant ringing.

I agree it's not always plesant - but I bet she had a home to go back to. I bet 99% of the Katrina Victims would not complain about a ringing bell.

God, Bless them.

Grace.