Jesus loves Jazz!How do I know this?Well, when you are in the original Preservation Hall with the world famous Jazz Band of the same name, it is hard not to think of Heaven or feel the rhythm of God's own heart as it is expressed in such unique and undeniable ingenuity. Jazz and Gumbo both have evolved from the kaleidoscope of culture that has made New Orleans what it is today.It is the only place I have ever been that I haven't readily sensed racial or partisan superiority in its dominant culture.The very heart of New Orleans is that its dominant culture is such an amazing amalgamation that they have become their own unique people. Their ethnicity is Cajun and their ethos is Creole.They are a culture of cultures which has acquired an identity of its own. Thus we get Jazz - an eclectic combination of early musical styles - and Gumbo - a combination of traditional food shared by a neighbourhood of diverse settlers desperately needing each other to survive. There is a decided urgency in living for the day here on the unrelenting and unpredictable Mississippi, where only God knows what tomorrow may bring.

We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know New Orleans in some small way. Today as we sat on a swinging bench in City Park dwarfed by the huge live oak trees, Tim closed his eyes and whispered that he could almost imagine living here.I don't know whether it was the warmth of the sun, the gumbo or crawfish that we ate, or the fact that we had danced on the Mississippi to live jazz on the paddle wheeler Natchez, but we have fallen for this little Garden of Eden where diversity is the norm and people live in need of each other.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Mark Twain (1835-1910)