Stephen Baldwin
NT: Galatians 5
A Tenacity to Live
I dare say this has been the most
difficult 10-day stretch in Greenbrier County in mane generations. I know this has been the most difficult 10-day
stretch of ministry in my life. Hundreds
of homes destroyed, thousands damaged, families who had $70 in their bank
account before the flood left trying to put their lives back together in three
feet of mud, funerals of the deceased, stories about people hanging onto (or
perching in) trees for hours to escape rushing and rising water. Parts of our county look like war zones. We are all tired and scarred and hurt.
At the same
time, this has also been the most rewarding 10-day stretch of ministry of my
life. Kelsey has been here everyday
doing flood relief and coordinating it for others. We had lots of volunteers this week cleaning
out homes, organizing supplies, and writing thank you notes to folks who sent
us donations. Churches from SC, VA,
& NC who came here on workcamps in previous years sent donations. Former members sent donations. Presbyterian churches sent donations and
supplies, and I want to thank Jane in particular for meeting those groups and
making that happen. The folks from Logan
and Enslow Park in Huntington loaded trucks full of supplies and drove them
here! A couple who attended church here
for two months during a medical rotation five years ago sent a large donation
from Ohio. Presbyterian Women of WV sent
a donation. Friends and neighbors and
churches and civic groups from across the county came together like never
before to help people get their lives back together. College students came home to do
cleanup. Youth put on their boots and
crawled under houses. Elders got their
hands dirty to help their fellow church members. A workcamp from Indiana decided they would
still make the journey to WV to work on flood relief! Praise God for you. We are so happy to have you here this
week! We ask for your patience this
week. Sometimes you will be asked to do
things you don’t want to do; sometimes you will be asked to wait until we find
the right project; and sometimes what you see will break your heart. But it will be a good week, and we thank you
for being here.
This week
has been the worst of times and the best of times. I don’t think you really understand that
until you walk inside a flooded house, see the water line, trudge through the
mud, smell the after-effects, and watch the heartbreak in a homeowner’s
eyes. It is gut- wrenching. But it is also redeeming when you work with
them step by step to show God’s love and clean up.
Some of you
may have noticed the dead tree in the frontyard of the manse. Everybody tells me how ugly it is. Weston & Pat Guthrie stopped by this
week, and poor Weston is in the throws of dementia, but even he looked at that
tree and said, “Good Lord, what is wrong with that tree? Did I plant that?”
The tree
has been dying for years. Last year,
only part of it came back. This year,
none of it did. It’s dead, rotten,
decaying wood. No leaves, no growth. Anybody can look at it and see that. But if you look closely, at the top of the
trunk, a seedling has started to grow in the dead wood of the tree. It has sprouted little leaves and lives! Some people look at that tree and see how
ugly it is on the whole. I look at that
little seedling perched atop the dead trunk and see a tenacity to live.
Isn’t that
what our people have shown this week? A
tenacity to live! And isn’t that how God
works? God makes a way out of no way and
nurtures life in even the most unlikely places!
Our
community looks a little bit like that dead tree right now. On the outside, we look broken and scarred
and hurt. But like that little seedling,
we have a tenacity to live! We have a
tenacity to help our neighbors! We have
a tenacity to share God’s love.
That’s what
today’s passage from Galatians is all about. God intends for us to live
together, serve one another, and love one another. And to that end, God gives us freedom.
When people talk about freedom,
they usually talk about being able to do what they want to do. That’s not how the Bible talks about
freedom. The Bible talks about freedom
as an opportunity for either self-indulgence or service. We choose service. We choose love. We choose life. We choose God.
I was talking to a man from
Quinwood this week who told me about some folks in his community. He said, “When you lose everything you have and
you didn’t have much in the first place, then what do you have left?”
A lot of folks have asked that question
this week. And the answer is that what
you have left is hope. If those of us
who weren’t flooded can use the freedom God has given us to love, then we
inspire hope in our hurting neighbors.
We serve as a reminder that God can always make a way, even when it
looks like there is no way. If you don’t
believe me, take a look at the seedling sitting atop a dead tree in my yard when you leave today. Amen.
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