Letters to My Friend -

Thoughts On North Carolina and Loss

October 5, 2024
Mary E. Stephens

My heart is heavy for the people in Western North Carolina. We were aware that some serious destruction had happened last week. My husband has family there still and we checked in to make sure they were O.K. They were, but one household had just missed being in the worst of it. They are not terribly far from Asheville.

This weekend as I've looked at videos that are coming out of western North Carolina, Tennessee, and other areas, it was both horrifying and sobering. The speed at which rivers and creeks rose, mud slides started, and people's homes and vehicles were breached was truly frightening. And, knowing that so many have lost so much all at one time is overwhelming. The destruction is mind boggling.

At the time of this writing the death toll is somewhere between 227 and 232 souls over an area that covers six states. The mountains of Appalachia are not as high as some ranges, and they are used to absorbing a lot more moisture than some in this country. But, if enough water falls in one place, it has to go somewhere, and reports I've seen or heard run from 10 inches to 30 inches in various places. The heaviest rains likely fell on higher points, which means all that water rushed down the usual paths, but when it began to accumulate too much the dams and rivers and creeks were nowhere near big enough to handle it all, so it overflowed and ravaged anything that was in its way. It spread out into streets and pasture lands and ran straight down through the woods, creating waterfalls that never existed before. Some of the waterlogged places turned into mudslides. And in some places massive amounts of rock eventually arrived in the flow as the mountain sides were literally torn apart by the force of the water. As debris from trees, houses, plants, and roads accumulated in the water it would collect at bridges along the way, and then eventually burst through, causing violent surges. In many places there was significant destruction to anything in its path. People didn't have time to escape in some instances because the extremity of the situation was underestimated and warnings were not issued in time.

As far as I can tell from what I've read and heard, there are probably people still stranded in the reaches of that large mountainous area. If you have never been in those parts it is hard to imagine why so many people can't get out or be reached. Just one factor is that these green and lush mountains have numerous creeks and rivers, which means numerous bridges - on roads maintained by the state, on private roads, and on driveways. In the path of the worst run off, many of these bridges have washed away and the people are stuck on the other side for one reason or another - water impassible, infirmities, small children and babies, etc.

The one word that encompasses the whole event in my mind is LOSS.

A great number of houses have been lost, some estimates say thousands. That means thousands of families have lost their homes - their shelter, and all or most of their possessions. Some probably came out with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and that was likely wet. Too many people have lost their lives. Many more have lost loved ones - family members, friends, neighbors.

Infrastructure has been lost as well - roads, bridges, power lines, clean water, etc. - which means that transportation and rebuilding or repairing is significantly hindered in those areas. Even staying in some areas is impossible until some things have been repaired or restored.

Livelihoods have been lost in the worst-hit areas. Farms have lost animals, produce, equipment, and bees. Land has been damaged. Businesses have been destroyed or severely damaged. It remains to be seen if some places will even be rebuilt. There is talk about certain areas not being safe locations for towns or homes.

So much loss.

There was also an unrelated short video I saw of a young man who professes to be a believer. He was cleaning a storage shed of his granddad's possessions - I think somewhere in Britain. In the process of that, it struck him hard how little all those possessions matter now that his grandfather has gone to heaven. All the true treasures that his grandfather had were laid up for him in heaven, and all those earthly things didn't mean anything any more.

While I would like to help the people who have lost so much, and my heart aches for them, I have to also stop and think about myself. Where am I putting my efforts? What is precious to me? What is my treasure? All the stuff in this house around me, with the one exception of my husband, will be left behind some day. It will either be passed on to other people, or it will go to the dump or a second hand shop.

Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

There are a lot of thieves in this world. Some are human. Others are natural phenomenon. None are kind. All bring with them a greater or lesser sense of loss.

But, that which we lay up in heaven - the spiritual fruit of serving Christ - can never be touched by corruption or loss. It is forever secure in the care of the Lord God Almighty. Whether it is the souls of those who have come to know Christ through us, the lives of other Christians that we have built up in the faith, or the fruit of Spirit in our own lives, it cannot be stolen from us by anything that may happen on this earth.

Whether it's a small, personal tragedy or a large, widespread, catastrophic one; life is full of tragedies relating to things - objects, the stuff we can handle and touch or things we can store electronically or in our minds.

I want to reevaluate some things myself because, despite my best efforts, I seem to be very accomplished at accumulating things that I can very easily do without. I can invent reasons to keep things that will probably sit in a pile or box or drawer and never get used. I feel like I need to focus on using more of the stuff to the glory of God, as well as passing on or discarding some things.

Matthew 6 goes on: Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

How often is it our eyes that lead us astray - the things we see, the things we watch, the things we read? The myriad choices on so many levels inundate us daily. It we would focus our eyes on Jesus Christ and what is of value to Him, what kind of difference would it make in our lives?

Do you know what a single focus lens is? It is a lens that only focuses in one range - near, intermediate, or distant. Everything else is not in focus. If we could/would focus only on the things that relate to God and His spiritual kingdom in this present age, how would it change the way we live?

Well, to start with, our whole body would be full of light - God's light.

1 John 1:5-7 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

But...

Matthew 6:23-24 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

If we put our focus on the things that are evil - and they are many - we will be full of darkness. We can't serve two masters. We don't get the choice of having a multi-focus lens as Christians. We are either focusing on the things that glorify God and keep us in the battle, or we are focusing on things that are hindrances and will bring more and more darkness into our lives. Ultimately, this leads to LOSS.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

So, the choice is ours. We can send a lot of wood, hay, and stubble to the judgment seat of Christ in the form of useless "treasures" that didn't mean anything in the plan of God, or we can send over the precious things that will abide the fire. We are building all the time with one or the other.

As I sorrow for the great losses to those folks in North Carolina, and other states, right now, I want to feel the challenge of examining my focus - what my eyes are on, and what I'm building that has value for Christ. I want to stop and consider some things and ask myself some hard questions about what really matters.

What say you? Are you willing to examine yourself too?

Sobering times, times of great loss, and catastrophe - whether our own or those of others - are reminders to us, as Christians, to bring our thoughts and focus back to Jesus. Because, in the big picture, the things that really matter in this life aren't the ones on that can be stolen from us by various destructive thieves. They are the things that are kept for us by Him against that day.

2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.