We are playing a very small role in redemptive disaster relief efforts in East Tennessee and Western NC. At this point, our focus has been on partnering with other ministries to get much-needed supplies into underserved areas.
Temperatures are dropping fast in Appalachia and the acute risk of hyperthermia for people rendered homeless by Helene is real. Yesterday, we partnered with Harvest Time Encounters and three other ministries to deliver a twenty-foot Uhaul truck full of cold weather supplies to Banner Elk, NC, a community with a large and now homeless Hispanic migrant population numbering at least one hundred men and women and children. If that last statement spikes your blood pressure,
Bear with me…
I realize there is a narrative stating that FEMA isn’t helping in Helene relief efforts because all the money has been spent on illegal migrants. If so, there are profound legal and constitutional issues at stake. However, the word on the ground here is that these people do not qualify for government assistance, including FEMA. As for us, we are Christians. God’s kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 We are in the world but not of it. John 17:16 In the meantime, we have a mandate from God regarding the sojourner.
He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
Having served as missionaries in Honduras and become homeless due to a landslide, see Making Sense of Calamity, we can empathize with the sojourner. We can also assure you that the migrants that so many Americans are encouraged to despise are just as much or more victims of the current political situation as American citizens in the USA. Beginning in 2020, Latin American news, especially CNN, encouraged people to venture across the border with the assurance that they would be welcomed with an abundance of opportunities to improve their way of life. Were they used as political pawns? Perhaps. In any case, the caravans began. Too often, these people are framed as terrorists and criminals. In truth, there are terrorists and criminals in every people group. One sure way to turn regular hard-working people into so-called “terrorists” is to marginalize and persecute them. That’s what happened to Honduran and Salvadoran migrants during the late 1980’s and early 90’s the fruit of which was and is Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.
Most of these people simply want to make ten dollars per hour instead of ten dollars per day.
In any case, human beings created in the image of God are currently at risk for freezing to death in Appalachia. Let me ask you a question.
What would Jesus have us do?
“America is God’s country!” you say. True. So is the rest of His creation.
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation (people group) anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Acts 10:34-35
Media Noise
Unfortunately, just as nature abhors a vacuum, the American mind abhors an unanswered question. Many today can not cope with the tension of not knowing. Hence any answer may be regarded as better than none. As is the case in much of the USA, rumors and conspiracies abound in Appalachia. That’s not to say that none are valid. As one senator whose name escapes me recently said, “We need new conspiracy theories because all of the old ones have already come true.” Even so, we have yet to encounter any militia, looters, or FEMA. All we’ve seen are compassionate, hard-working people representing exactly what America is supposed to be.
Banner Elk
“It takes a village”
is an understatement when it comes to disaster relief. We had all sorts of skilled and talented people who could have planned and built a city. Leon and Paula from Harvest Time Encounters initially organized the trip. Then Leon had to go to Uganda and realized he couldn’t make it back from NC in the required time frame. They knew we’d already been making runs to NC and they asked us to make the trip for them. Of course we said,
“Yes!”
We also had Musy and Laura. There are a lot of things I could say about these two. But suffice it to say that they are organizational “Git-er done” pros.
We had the entire warehouse staff at two distribution centers helping as well.
That being said, anyone who has been on the mission field, knows that chaos always abounds. Some people blame the devil.
I think it’s a testimony of God’s glory and sovereignty in the context of human foolishness and frailty.
It took all of the veteran missionaries and administrative experts two full days to coordinate gather, load, and transport sleeping bags, tents, heaters, propane, gasoline, generators, winter clothing, and food for people camping in freezing weather with none of the above. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Everyone one with overseas missions experience kept asking,
“why is this so hard to do in America?”
We were ready to go when Elizabeth, our contact person on the ground in Banner Elk said the guy who owned the hangar where she was receiving donations needed his hangar back. She could not receive any more donations until she found a new location. The donation distribution center refused to load us up without a verified contact person and delivery location. It looked like the trip was a bust. Then Musy remembered an old friend and learned he is now pastoring in Western North Carolina. As it turned out, he is in Boone, NC, just outside Banner Elk. She called him and he told her about a displaced Hispanic community at risk of freezing to death. He was “headed there now with peanut butter sandwiches”. Little did we know he was also meeting with a lady named Sherry in Banner Elk.
The next day we started afresh with Pastor Scott as a new contact. Only now, I guess we looked pretty flaky. Those in charge at the distribution center seemed reluctant to take us seriously. So we left and went to another center. Just as the second center was getting ready to supply us, the first center called back, apologized, and said they were “ready to load us up”. As we learned later, the request we had been trying to fill the entire time was originally from the same Sherry in Banner Elk. It had come in three days earlier and evidently had been misplaced. So, we returned to the first center while Musy and Laura stayed behind to fill their pickup truck with as many relevant supplies as they could get. The plan was to add it to our Uhaul load.
“I doubt they will fill our truck. We’ll have room for what you can get.” I told them.
Boy, was I wrong! The first center had pallets of supplies ready to pack our truck to the proverbial gills. They had some of every item requested. We’d gone from severe miscommunication and not having enough stuff to having too much stuff to fit in our truck. That’s when Pastor Bill showed up.
“I can take a load in my truck.” He said.
Bill had no agenda of his own that day. In fact he’d just finished asking the Lord what he was supposed to do when he laid eyes on us and overheard my frustration.
Sometimes we just need to abide in Prov 3:5-8 and get out of God’s way.
We did. God directed our path and did what the expert humans could not. That said, anyone can load a truck and drive it somewhere. We are not heroes.
Meet the heroes.
Pastor Scott was tied up when we arrived in Banner Elk. So he sent two fire chiefs from Fort Worth, Texas. Bruce (left), is retired. Jeff is still active. Bruce told me Jeff is one of the top disaster response experts in the country. They’d been chainsawing all day and we could tell they were exhausted when we met up at four in the afternoon. The two men attend the same church in Texas and are in Banner Elk, volunteering for another week.
They were there to help us unload.
There was lots of emotion when we arrived. Some were thanking Jesus for the volume of supplies that we brought. Others were freaking out because they didn’t know where to put it. Everyone began brainstorming. Or should I say “storming”? We unloaded in one area then reloaded and unloaded…. That’s when Jeff said,
“Stop!”
“I think there might be a warehouse we can use.”
He consulted the General in charge. For the record, she’s not really a General. But she is a veteran.
Sherry Trice
Sherry Trice is the quintessential Appalachian woman and resident of Banner Elk. Sweet as a kitten or a Pit Bull depending on who she is addressing, she comes from a long line of Appalachians with “ministries” of serving. She said that when she first looked out upon the resulting devastation caused by Helene, she distinctly heard,
“You serve here.”
I’m not sure if she knew who was talking, but she obeyed. She is coordinating much, if not most, of the relief efforts in Banner Elk. “If we have the money and resources, people with time to spare can get it done,” she said. If there is one thing that Appalachian’s embody, it is a spirit of mental toughness, endurance, and selflessness. These are the original “Git-er done!” people. Many who have lost everything are more concerned with their neighbors than they are with themselves. “Don’t worry about me. Give it to someone who needs it more.” is a common response. Sherry says she wants nothing to do with the church, she only wants the church people. We get it. I met Jesus at the barrel of a shotgun over two decades ago. I’ve been working out my theological errors ever since. As we were leaving, Sherry declared more than asked, “You’re coming back next week!” “Maybe,” I replied. “A man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps.” Sherry immediately looked up to the sky and proclaimed,
“I need them to come back next week!”
Cathy and I really like this lady.
Lord willing we’ll be back.
There was a fair amount of temptation to become offended along the way. We could debate who to blame, in the spiritual and the natural realms ad infinitum. I asked Jeff why things get so crazy and disorganized when Christians respond to dire needs. “It’s because everyone just jumps in and starts doing.”, he replied. This morning in our devotions Cathy and I discussed how Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. We suspect that God is teaching us all something about that. He’s teaching us a lot of things. The impetus and urgency that drove this trip was a rumor that fifteen people had died of hyperthermia in Banner Elk. It went viral on social media. The local news debunked it. No one we met in Banner Elk said otherwise. Still, the risk of freezing to death is increasingly real. At the end of the day, God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Our job is to love God. If it works out, it’s because He did it. Period! He did. Another important point is that while none of us desires the pressure that is tribulation, sometimes tribulation is required if redemption is to be found within the only hope that does not disappoint. Rom 5:3-5 Quite often redemption involves the stripping that Cathy and I so often talk about.
Finally, Cathy repeatedly heard the word “contingency” the other night and during her morning prayer time.
Continigency
Oxford Dictionary
provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.
Maybe ponder that.
Anyway, now that you know the backstory, here’s a two-minute snippet that makes two days of abject chaos and confusion look smooth and easy. Pay special attention to the song as it describes the true spirit and disposition of everyone involved.
