I want to start the Day seven conversation with something I am very familiar with.  This is the phase when shock, turns to frustration, turns to a sense of being simply overwhelmed.  This is the phase when critical fellowship is THE MOST important aspect to recovery operations.

As the adrenalin subsides, there will likely be a great deal of despondency, as people succumb to dark imaginings, get angry psychologically, and with empty reserves of hope begin to express thoughts on the anger side of their mental ledger.

Try not to focus on the whispers that want you to look at the impossible horizon. Instead, with a heart of God filled fortitude, force your gaze at the 2 feet around you and work that problem… then the next two feet… then the next two feet, etc. etc.

If you are a relief worker, GIVE GRACE, and an ear, to every voice that is shouting despair. Let them cry through the apex of their desperation, until they can pause to encounter your shoulder. Then GIVE HOPE. At the core, this is what makes Samaritans Purse so effective. They live this creed as they elevate much more than just crushed stuff.  Day #7 is a day to remember the focus on soul food and the nutrition of fellowship.

GOD is all around YOU!  WATCH:

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Just keep going. Sometimes the knights in shining armor appear wearing jeans, overalls and boots. It doesn’t take an emergency beacon to activate them, just a need… and they come.  Purposefully, without condition, ready to move, activate and respond.

Look and see them.  This is the army that matters, the Christian America we know well.

See and embrace the people who represent what makes our nation unique.  The usually invisible, salty, mostly scruffy and beautifully comfortable about it, yet critical network of Americans that keep it all operating.  God, how I cherish them so.

At the core of our American purpose is a decency and unity.  Critics don’t like to talk about it, but Americans are fundamentally good. When something seems impossible, for blue-collar Americans ‘impossible‘ is just another starting point, if you get out of the way. Don’t lose sight of that.

No other nation on earth was ever conceived on the principle of allowing people to manifest their own destiny, while keeping government out of their lives.  The vision, the premise and the purpose, was to allow you the freedom to determine your place in life; and even, at any time, change that determination and strike off in an entirely new direction.

Our labor and aspirations would not be pre-determined by caste, tier, creed or social status; but rather by our personal vision for our own future.  The right of self-determination.  This is what is in our DNA. This is what other nations do not understand.  We are Americans.

Almost exactly two years ago, to the day, THIS HAPPENED:

Ms. Veronica is a lady of impeccable generosity, identified not simply by the hospitality and greeting, but also by the few moments of grace deserved and afforded in polite request to make herself more ‘presentable‘ for unexpected company.

Upon return, Ms. Veronica immediately became Vera, a woman, widow, great grandma and neighbor who may not have enough, but she’d give a stranger half – and they would never know.

This is a powerful woman filled with a message. “Hurricane Ian did not create victims,” she immediately captured my full and undivided attention.   She continued, “I am not a victim.”

“There are dead people, and there are survivors.”

Long pause.  The depth of her eyes, intense.

I am wise enough to notice moments when my prior opinion of self, strength and fortitude are immediately being redefined. I am also smart enough to stay silent.

“Our loving God does not create victims, and apparently he is not finished using me.”  Veronica’s eyes now alight. “In this moment I am filled with rejoicing,” she said, “because I know there is a purpose I have yet to fulfill.”  From me, more smart silence.  “How incredible is it for me at 90 to realize there’s more use, more purpose, and more time,” she concluded.

Then, just as casual as one might order a familiar coffee on any ordinary Tuesday, Vera asked…. “How is it I can help you boys?“…

All the Mr. and Mrs. Veronica’s are not victims; none of us are.  God doesn’t create victims – people do.

How stark is the reality of hearing, “there are dead people, and there are survivors.”

If you are not in the former, none of us are, then we should rejoice and realize we have purpose yet unfulfilled.

I share that story again because I know the mountains of North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee are filled with the strength that Vera represents.

If you are alive in the impacted region, you are a selected as a survivor and you have a purpose yet to fulfill.  Remember that!

Consider the strength and wisdom that follows in this interview. Three members of a North Carolina family, including a 7-year-old boy, died in the disastrous flooding from Helene. Now, the survivors share their story of immense grief and comforting faith.

…”this is a backfire for the devil.” 

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In Day #7 of any recovery effort, fellowship and prayer are the fuel that matters.  As the grieving survivor, daughter and mother so accurately and eloquently noted, “this is a backfire for the devil.”

Rebuke evil when manifest.  Focus on your purpose!

♦ Turning toward another issue, inasmuch as the devil must be rebuked, any voice that amplifies the dark imagining and attempts to diminish the importance of fellowship must be rejected.

Appalachia is strong stock.  Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina is the home region for some of the strongest faith-filled people in our nation.  However, there are some very small people in positions of assumed power that do not understand the nature of this region; they too must be rejected:

The voices of a corrupt and malevolent government obviously do not want people to: (A) see the lack of FEMA response; (B) get immediate assistance from ordinary Americans; (C) feel the empowerment of community and fellowship that unites the nation.

This is a BIG painful PICTURE to accept; however, I must repeat:

We are in an abusive relationship with government. The abusers need isolation to retain control, power and dominance over their victims. Fellowship and community break the stranglehold of abuse.

Dear Lord, You say in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”

Today we turn to You as our strength.  Help us to fill our hearts with fuel so that we may be a source of Your true hope for all.  We ask Your will to renew and restore us.

When we feel we are near our end, when we are weary, tired, or heavily burdened, give us firm reliance in You.  Strengthen our bodies and our spirit in the way that only You can provide. We thank You for the ways You give us all we need each day.

Clear our eyes and souls. Give us the vision to see Your perspective in all things.

In our time of despair, we turn to You.  When these moments feel hard or taxing, seed our minds with the reminder that You are beside us.  ~ Amen

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