Wagner: Hurricane Helene and Helping Hands

Where to even begin, with a column like this…

Hurricane Helene. The impact has been pretty devastating and over a massive area. The mountains of Western North Carolina, just a short drive up the road from me, seem to have been the hardest hit. Chimney Rock Village, an iconic little town I have enjoyed since my childhood, is simply gone. Other areas are cut off entirely as I write this, accessible only by air. Our area was hit, but not nearly so hard. Trees are down everywhere, and power to my town, the church I pastor, and my house is expected to be out for more than a week.

There have been reasons to smile through it all. We live on the Broad River, which flooded to a historic level. It did not reach our house. It did put my barn halfway underwater. We parked our vehicles at the top of our road so we could hopefully get out if needed – a massive oak tree from way across the road decided to kamikaze it. Our driveway ended up under a six-foot deep, sixty-foot wide flood of water from what is normally a tiny creek running under it and into the river. We used kayaks to get back and forth across it. My son, the perfect dog dad, kayaked himself and his full-grown German Shepherd across the water. Seeing that dog sit in his lap as he paddled across is a sight I will not soon forget.

Our twenty-year-old generator has performed like a champ. We can’t run much off of it, but we have been able to have a few lights, internet, periodically run the fridge and freezer to hopefully save what we can, and charge phones and flashlights.

Sunday, September 29, though, was a banner day. With no power at the church, we nonetheless met at 10:00 AM and, using propane-powered griddles, made a pancake breakfast for anyone who came, which included a lot of folks from the community who had not been able to get a decent meal for a while. Then we worshiped the Lord; that is always appropriate. From there, we divided up into several different teams and headed out into the community with chainsaws, cases of water, and other supplies. At least two other churches had sent people down to help with this effort, which we had announced only the night before. We went to eight different homes and started cutting and removing trees from roofs and driveways and bringing supplies to those who needed them.

I had not even thought of lunch; it simply never occurred to me. But our ladies had. By about 1:00, when the first wave of work was done, we started heading back to the church to regroup. When we arrived, we found lunch ready and waiting for us. Then it was back out to other locations. One group of us went to a Children’s Home to deal with two massive downed trees. Another headed for Hendersonville for a similar task.

I had not thought of supper, either. How is it possible to miss things like that? Our ladies, though, were way, way ahead of me. Not only had they thought of it, they had also put out a notice on social media that they would be serving supper to anyone in the community who needed a meal. By the time we got back, they had served more than 250 meals to our town and those from neighboring communities.

I am blessed; I have incredibly good people.

As I write this, other churches are gathering supplies to send our way for us both to use here and to forward on to areas harder hit than our own. People we know, and even people we do not know, have been sending money for relief efforts. And please pay close attention to what I say next because it is one of the main things I want to convey: we are not the only ones doing things like this. Churches all over the place are doing things like this. Some, in fact, are dwarfing our best efforts.

And this is why I so deeply love God’s people in local churches all over the place. They are the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. They give selflessly, love unconditionally, and do so without seeking fanfare or applause. In all of the work done yesterday, I never saw a single person take a selfie; they just worked like dogs for others, not caring about the fact that they themselves would be going home to darkened houses with no power.

So, to churches and pastors everywhere who are both holding the line on Biblical truth and ministering to the daily needs of people around you, I say thank you. Both sides of that coin are part and parcel of what it means to be a Christian. James 1:27 put it this way, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

Keep preaching the truth, keep spreading the gospel, keep doing right, keep serving and loving others, and know that I am for you, and I appreciate you.