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ev. Redfern II was telling a story about
a group of children who came to Com-
passion Central* in Biloxi, MS, to attend
the Kids Kamp that had been set up for the
children of Katrina. His voice low and brow
wrinkled, Redfern said, " ey watched their
grandmother oat away. e night of Hur-
ricane Katrina, they were huddled together in
their living room to ride out the storm when
the rain came and the oodwaters began to rise.
e house began to ll up with water and the
children climbed on top of the furniture. ey
could see the sh swimming around
in the living room."
Redfern struggled to tell the rest of
the story about the children. He con-
tinued, "Bobbling in the water, they re-
alized they had to get to the attic. Even
there, they were not safe. ey kicked
out a window so they could climb on
top of the roof and clung to life in the
best way that they could. It was then
that they lost the grip on their grand-
mother's hand and watched her oat
away. ey never saw her again."
Redfern's voice had been soft and
slow, but the pitch raised with enthu-
siasm as he blurted out, "But, do you
know what? When those very same
children came to Kids Kamp and told
us the story of their grandmother, they
asked us if they could sing a song." Redfern's
eyes widened. "You'll never guess what song they
wanted to sing!" My curiosity was peaked as I
began to think of how amazing it was that they
could still sing a song. "What was it?" I asked.
Half laughing and half crying, Redfern sang
out boisterously, "Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him
belong. ey are weak but He is strong. Yes,
Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Je-
sus loves me. e Bible tells me so." Redfern
belted out an infectious laugh as if he had just
opened his favorite present at Christmas. And,
I guess he did, because Redfern loves Jesus and
identi ed totally with the children's song.
I came to know Redfern when he came to a
City Light meeting at the invitation of a friend.
Although I did not know Redfern during his
younger years, I have been told that he was quite
a rebel during the Civil Rights Era. During that
time, African-Americans were not served at the
same lunch counters with other people. Redfern
joined the ranks of the "sit-in demonstrators" and
lling a story about
h
C
belted out an infectious laugh as if he had just
d hi f
i
Ch i
A d
Hurricane Katrina &
e Storm of Gods Love
Gladys Grimaud
R
even once held a bank hostage because they did
not have any African-American employees. He
didn't go to jail for that. As he later told me, "I
didn't have a weapon of any kind. I just locked
everybody inside and wouldn't let them out." It
must have been e ective. e bank hired their-
rst African-American employees right after
that. e same delightful charismatic personal-
ity that charmed the NAACP during the days
of Civil Rights and caused an icy shiver in the
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