Ps. 121:1 – “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where is my help to come?”

As bishop of our synod, yes, but also as a father/grandfather/in-law to 8 much-beloved people in Asheville, as a pastor who served over 16 years in Boone, as a cradle Lutheran born at the base of the mountain in Lenoir, as a deep lover of both camps Lutherock and Lutheridge, and simply as a human being, I cannot stop lifting up my eyes to the hills, our mountains. Even more, to all of our precious ones whose families, livelihoods, property, shelter, and hope itself have been decimated. Indeed, some have even lost their lives, and we fear how much larger that number might grow as workers gain access to inaccessible areas.

Imagine how you might feel if your house, your home, were completely gone. If in this age of instant and constant communication it’s been days since you’ve heard from loved ones to see if they’re okay or to tell them that you are. Or that you aren’t. Or you don’t know where your car is. And yes, I personally know several people whose entire house was swept away, and one of them this past weekend desperately posted in all seriousness something prior to this storm we would have considered laughable. “Please, if anyone sees either my house (she describes it) or my car (same), please, please, let me know!”

And you’re reading the horror stories on social media from the few in those areas who can post anything and seeing on the news a constant litany of horror and tragedy stories deeper than we stunned bystanders can fathom. Down through the washed-out valleys and ravaged hollers of our beloved NC mountains, their haunting cry echoes, “From where is my help to come?”

Where indeed! How many times in the past few days have you seen the Mr. Rogers quote, “Look for the helpers?” For the couple and former parishioner in Boone right now, one of them with cancer, kids still at home, having to abandon their home squashed by trees and 3-4′ of water inside, gushing about the kindness they’ve received from the Holiday Inn staff. For our own daughter-in-law in Asheville who, on the 5th try of ways to get to her job as an Emergency Dept physician in Hendersonville persevered and finally got there and worked 21 straight hours because others scheduled after her couldn’t get there—all with no x-rays and other electronic tests. And dozens, hundreds, already like her. For the convoy of utility trucks and linemen rolling into NC from Texas this past Sunday. Look for the helpers.

In the Gospel of Mark’s telling of the feeding of the 5,000, when the disciples advise Jesus to send the crowds away to get something to eat, Jesus startles them by replying, “You give them something to eat!? Similarly, I’ve heard from so many looking at the devastation that “I feel so helpless.” Keep reading that Psalm 121. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” I know where you can find help in recovering from this storm. Look in the mirror! There’s a helper! “But what can I do?” you ask. Rather than be overwhelmed with all you can’t fix right now, do what you can do. Garrison Keillor used to say, “You can only do so much. But you have to do that much.” You have some financial resources, I’ll bet. That’s what’s needed now. For now, donate a little, or a lot, of that “helper in storage” money to empower those with more organized and quicker hands-on access to the needs release your help! Until we can, with them, be the hands and feet of Jesus, through NovusWay, Lutheran Disaster Response, and so many more organizations, we can buy stock in his ministry of neighbor-love.

Read more about how to help in this Special e-News from LDR Carolinas.