In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, many stories emerged. Deann Alford reported on one couple who provided ministry in a time of great need.

In T-shirts and pajama bottoms they'd worn for four days and shoes caked in New Orleans sludge, Christopher and Monika Sheppard arrived at Houston's Astrodome. In one arm was a cardboard box that held all they owned that the rising waters didn't snatch before they escaped. In another arm was their 16-month-old son, Jackson, quiet with fever and clutching a baby bottle.

They joined an ever-growing number of those made homeless when levees broke following Hurricane Katrina's rampage through Louisiana. Although the family owned a car, like many residents of the below-sea-level city who weathered the storm in their homes, they stayed because they had no place to go outside New Orleans and thought they could ride it out.

For more than two days they waited with hundreds of other storm survivors as the city around them plunged into bedlam. They ate pilfered food and drank pilfered water that looters unloaded in piles to share.

Finally, the Sheppards were airlifted to a bus that transported them to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

Though the Astrodome provided shelter and at least some measure of safety compared to the anarchy of apocalyptic New Orleans, the sports arena was tense with dangers and full of vulnerable people, especially the aged….

Hours after the Sheppards arrived, newlyweds Shane and Shelly Cole of Pasadena, Texas, married just nine days, entered the arena. On Wednesday night, the Coles had heard news about problems at the Astrodome. Shane, 35, a Baptist who came to Christ 10 years ago after serving in the first Gulf War, said he grieved for children living amid the Astrodome chaos. The Coles were using just one of their home's two bedrooms and could house a family.

"We've got to go down there," he told Shelly, a Messianic Jew originally from Wisconsin. "I know there's babies in there."

The first two families Shane approached in the Astrodome said loved-ones in Houston were picking them up. Then Shane saw Jackson and asked the Sheppards if they would like to stay with them. They gratefully accepted.

The Coles believe they were just following God's leading.

"We were obedient. That's all he required of us," Shelly said. "God will put the puzzle together. We were the link because God works through people. He wants willing vessels."