Operation Appalachian Compassion
Saturday,
September 28th, 2024 – I woke up Saturday morning, had my coffee, did some
reading, and perused the news. I began
seeing videos of the devastation that had taken place as a result of Hurricane
Helene. The images were shocking, and
it rocked me to the core. Most of what I
was seeing came from the mountains in North Carolina, some were my old
haunts. I was born in North Wilkesboro,
NC and I have family around that area that were cutoff as many others were
because of washed out roads and bridges.
I vacationed at Cherokee as an adolescent, went to youth Camp in
Whittier, learned to ski at Beech Mountain.
I have floated those rivers, hiked those trails, wandered those
mountains and valleys, rivers, and streams, and they are as much a part of who
I am as the branches on my family tree. I
saw houses floating down rivers or smashed at the bottom of steep slopes. I saw the utter loss and bereavement on the
face of a man who couldn’t find his wife and child. I felt that unbelievable hopelessness
creeping in. Then I heard the Holy Spirit
whisper, “Whatcha gonna do?” I didn’t
know, but I had to do something, and I had to do it quickly.
Being raised
in a Pentecostal denomination, I both greatly appreciate it and am annoyed by
it. I have never fit in that organized,
starched, pressed, folded, and complicated institution we call the Church
today. My religion is more St. James-y,
and it is because of the 2nd Chapter of Acts. You believe in God? (This is me talking to
myself.) You have had a supernatural
Holy Ghost experience? That’s
great! Now whatcha gonna do? Faith without works… Things I have learned: Holy Ghost experiences are experiences and
not the point. The very beginning of the
Bible teaches us how it is supposed to work. Formless, void, darkness and the Holy Ghost
takes a hover (because … no feet.) Genesis 1.
Works followed and everything we see, smell, hear, touch, taste, and
that 6th one… came into being. And of course, everything He does is good.
There must be works. You must have that
experience, and then you must do something! The point is to become an agent through which
God can show up and rescue, teach, heal, chastise, protect, soothe, restore, etc.,
etc. The point is to become His idea of
you so you can:
1. Be who He
made you to be and
2. Do cool
stuff He wants you to do.
(This is how
I preach to myself. No worries, I’ll
send myself an offering if it was a good sermon.)
So, feeling that
I had to do something, I thought I would procure my son’s pickup truck and fill
it with stuff. Then I thought, “that
might last 20 people 2 days.” I definitely
needed something else. I know some
pastor dudes, so I thought I’d give them a call and see if we couldn’t put
something together. I called pastors
from two Churches of God and one Assembly of God. They all were compelled to send texts,
emails, social media posts, etc., to engage the Saints. And they were very engaged. Friends, family, and coworkers were also
sending gifts of money to make this mission be accomplished! I procured a truck from the Penske company,
which after learning what I planned to do with it, charged less than half what
other companies were charging, one of which is a company I am employed with
full time! God already had put it on the
hearts of everyone else even before I saw that first video on Saturday, the 28th
of September.
There’s
more. A few weeks before, Operation
Compassion, a para-Church of God ministry for emergency relief in Cleveland, TN
was seeking a space that would facilitate their operations better. They found it. They gather, store, and deliver donations via
trucks and the information they receive from boots-on-the-ground pastors and
others within the areas of need. Weeks
later, on the 29th of September, the day me and my son, Caleb
arrived at Operation Compassion, the Director of Operations, Tony Clanton,
informed me that they had just obtained the use of the warehouse we delivered
to, and that the other one would not have been able to facilitate all the
donations from all over that were coming in.
Again, God sees around the bend of the river and goes before! We say that it is amazing, but amazing is
just God being our Good Father.
On Sunday the
29th of September, Caleb and I drove around to the churches and
loaded up all the donations. By the time
we loaded items from the 2nd church we realized we were going to be
out of room in the truck for the 3rd church and the golf courses. So, a brother from the 2nd church
donated his vehicle, time, and fuel to take the overflow to Operation
Compassion in Cleveland, TN. Because of
this we were able to load items donated to all the churches, one coffee house
here in Huntsville, AL, and two golf courses.
Once folks heard what we were doing, they piled on!
A two-hour
trip turned into a four-hour trip from Huntsville, AL to Cleveland, TN because
of that infamous span on I-24 at I-59 to the I-75 junction in Chattanooga. Once we arrived and unloaded the truck, all
were amazed at the amount and variety of donated items. People can be very thoughtful. Looking at the mound of items donated in a
very short amount of time really boosted my confidence in people, and not all
of them were believers or church-goers.
And, we all spoke of the grace of our Good Father and Holy Spirit moving
the hearts of so many people, and different kinds of people, to help in the
hour of need.
I hesitate
posting this report because I am always checked by the Word Himself telling us
not to do our “good deeds” for others to see.
But I desire to relate this small thing in order to share a real-life
example of how God knows what we have need of before we even ask and lines
everything up to work for His glory and the relief of His children, believers
or not. This is our Creator, our God,
our King! It is an utter joy to be a
part of what He does on this earth. And
I admonish you, listen to that still small voice when it speaks. Let your faith be engaged and act upon those
nudges. God has already gone before and
is waiting on us to be and to do what He has purposed-for the good of others,
and for His magnificent glory!
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