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(OPINION) To the shock of the state of North Carolina, where my wife Nancy and I have lived since 2003, Hurricane Helene wreaked massive devastation, taking at least 118 lives with at least 92 still missing.
No one saw this coming, and it has brought unimaginable suffering to whole communities living in the mountains of our state, where horrific, unprecedented flooding wiped out little towns and destroyed countless homes, businesses, and roads.
To this moment, many residents remain without power, and it is almost impossible to access some of the hardest hit areas.
Nancy and our younger daughter Megan, who lives nearby, connected with a local ministry and spent three days cleaning up and bringing supplies, trying to make the tiniest dent in a rebuilding process that will take many years.
The suffering is so great and the losses so staggering that it’s hard to conceive it all without being there – and I have not been there myself. The videos and stories alone are heartbreaking.
Both Nancy and Megan made subsequent trips to help out, but Nancy was able to volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian aid foundation founded by Rev. Franklin Graham. (They actually have so many volunteers coming from around the country that you have to find dates where they have openings).
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Nancy volunteered to work with the Red Cross in bringing aid to the devastated victims there, but she was stunned by the lack of organization and the chaotic way things were done as well as the available funds not getting to the people who needed them most. (Perhaps her time with them was not representative, or if it was, perhaps they have improved since then).
This time, with Samaritan’s Purse, her experience was the exact opposite.
Here’s what Nancy posted on Facebook this past Saturday (be sure to click on the link to see all the pictures!): “Started working yesterday [Oct. 11] with Samaritans Purse in Spruce Pine NC. What an amazing organization! So completely God centered and wonderfully organized. They pray with all the homeowners as well as give out bibles in addition to working extremely hard all day long in the muck and the mire. And these are not just perfunctory prayers. These are deeply expressed and heartfelt….. many times with tears. We even had a little worship service at the various sites. This is a completely Christ centered organization and if you want to donate or volunteer somewhere, this is the place where your money and your body will be put to work big time!
“Sewer system has been completely compromised where we are here in Burnsville NC (staying at a church), and some areas are completely decimated. Thankful that Samaritan’s Purse has an array of well maintained toilet and shower trucks!
“Today [Oct. 12] we were in Green Mountain NC and many of the roads are completely washed out with no way to get to the people. Their homes have been flooded, and now that the water has receded, the mold and stench has taken over. They have no electricity and it was 36 degrees this morning.
“Some very dangerous driving around here … driving over, under, and around power lines and that with half of the road washed away and crumbling underneath. We worked on two houses with the lower levels completely flooded with tons of mud and the properties loaded with debris. One was the house of a 90-year-old man (CC was what he was called). He had to bring his wife to a local nursing home because he didn’t want her to stay in the house. He had to carry her out of the house by himself in order to get her to safety. He was sharp as a tack and so sweet and overwhelmed with thankfulness. When he saw the group of us there and the work that had been done, he said it was the happiest day of his life….and that his hope had been renewed. CC was given a special Samaritans Purse Bible (only published for disaster victims) which was signed by all of us who worked on his house. Several of those in his area were killed including a husband and wife. The husband’s body was found 35 miles down river in Tennessee. They are still looking for his wife. Their 8 year old survived.
“There is so much need here and it is such a privilege to serve God in this way.” (See here for her second update).
Nancy and I have been married for 48 years, and she is quite a perfectionist with very high standards. She is extremely slow to hand out praise, and it is exceedingly rare for her to speak about another organization in such glowing terms, which she repeated to me privately in greater detail. She would be thrilled to see more contributions come their way.
This is what the gospel looks like in action, with every single volunteer she spoke with being a professing Christian.
May the Lord be gracious to these devastated individuals, families, and communities, and may He bring lasting good out of this tragic storm.
Jesus deeply cares about these people, many of whom live in isolated, rural areas and are virtually unknown to the rest of society, living and dying in obscurity. Those on the ground, like Nancy and Megan and all the other volunteers, provided an up close and in person encounter with His love.
To say it again, this is what the gospel looks like in action, and Samaritan’s Purse is helping to lead the way.