Calamity can bring hard times. However, it can be a time of blessing for Christ followers or those they touch.
In the last post on this site, which was written before the disaster of Hurricane Helene in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, we discussed the reality of evil and calamity in our broken world. The Bible has answers. While events happen in this fallen world, they also present opportunities for believers to make a difference by their testimony of God’s presence or guidance as they walk through contrary circumstances or assist their neighbor.
The Helene disaster is one of those examples as hundreds of churches and ministries continue to provide supplies, volunteers by the thousands per day, and finances to many of those in the affected area. We have had first- and second-hand reports from various ministries and people about the magnitude of the disaster as well as the response from believers who are continuing to go and assist through major ministries that were on the ground within days of Helene. Many local churches ceased operations and transferred their efforts to helping others and receiving volunteers who would also help.
That same kind of mobilization took place after Hurricane Katrina. Ministries and Christian volunteers were showing up within days of the disaster from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, to New Orleans, Louisiana . I delivered medical supplies and helped a Methodist church mobilize the receipt and giving out of supplies to local residents in Bayou La Batre. Another small team assisted people in Pas Christian, Mississippi, near the location where the eye of the hurricane crossed. When I was traveling Interstate 10, the vast majority of cars and trucks were associated with Christian organizations that were getting to hard hit areas to assist local people.
My wife saw the same thing happen in the Mississippi Flood of the early 1990s, when the flood stages of the river overwhelmed and broke through dikes. It led to an immediate large disaster for hundreds of farm communities and small towns. Christians were on the ground helping within days.
For these disasters, it is not that the government (federal, state, and local) are not responding. They are. But some of these disasters are so devastating that their efforts often do not reach individual streets, houses, and people who are in need. That is where Christians, motivated by their love for neighbors, play a big part. When the news stops covering the disaster and the first responders leave, neighbors helping neighbors becomes even more important. Many of the ministries or church teams go to a disaster area to help this part of the effort.
I will never forget the trips to Bayou La Batre and that little Methodist church helping the local residents. After a couple days of hot sweaty work in the heat, a Baptist team showed up and set up portable showers for the hundred volunteers that were working hard. The pastor cleared the church and turned it into a place where volunteers could sleep after long days of work. Local church people made food. A Methodist group came with supplies and help. There was no power or gas within 30 miles, so every effort was a blessing. People, still traumatized by the hurricane, picked up emergency water and supplies, but they would tell their stories for the first time when they came to get supplies. These activities made a difference. In the same way, people are making a difference in Western North Carolina as I write.
Brothers and sisters, when there is opportunity, make a difference. Love your neighbor.
