Father walks thirty miles through Hurricane Helene debris to attend daughter’s wedding

David Jones walked his daughter Elizabeth down the aisle at her wedding in Johnson City, Tennessee, last Saturday. Here’s why their story made headlines: he had to walk through the devastation created by Hurricane Helene to get there.

What would have been a two-hour drive from South Carolina turned into a seven-hour drive, followed by five and a half hours on foot to cover the remaining thirty miles to the wedding. David had to climb six- and seven-foot-tall piles of debris and slog through the mud. Carrying a reflective stake to avoid being hit, he made it just in time. At the reception he presented the reflector to the couple as a gift.

His reason: “Just for them to remember, to be a protector and a good reflection of each other and a reflection of God.”

Hiking trails that are now gone

Yesterday, President Biden directed a thousand active-duty soldiers to assist in delivering food, water, and other services to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.

The confirmed death toll from the storm has climbed to 190 at this writing, making Helene one of the deadliest and costliest storms to hit the US in the modern era. Hundreds of people are still reported missing. More than a thousand people are in shelters in North Carolina, where entire communities were destroyed by fast-moving water. Asheville had been booming for a decade; now residents are wondering how they can rebuild.

Restoring power will be especially challenging since many electrical substations were flooded. The devastation could be disastrous for the car industry since a North Carolina town, the world’s leading source of high-purity quartz for semiconductors, was flooded. Long-term health consequences for survivors will persist for decades.

Among the many victims are first responders who were killed by raging floods or falling trees. In one of the most heartbreaking stories, a seven-year-old boy, his mother, and his grandparents were stranded on their rooftop in Asheville surrounded by rising floodwaters; the mother was saved when she became wedged in debris, but the others were swept away and drowned.

Over the years, my wife and I have visited many of the places devastated by the hurricane. I have hiked trails and visited stores that are now gone. The immensity of the tragedy is unimaginable, proving once again that none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.

“Beauty in the land of the living”

Yesterday we focused on the fact that considering our mortality can motivate us to choose biblical morality. If we believe—truly believe—that we could face God today, we will want to be ready. The time to prepare for a test is before it must be taken.

However, such a focus on sacrificial obedience and eternal rewards is deeply countercultural today. The British philosopher John Stuart Mill, who profoundly influenced Western democracy, also articulated a way of living that is enormously popular in our secularized society. In his view, “the promotion of happiness is the ultimate principle” of life. Even sacrificing happiness for the sake of virtue is reasonable only if “on the whole, more happiness will exist in the world.”

The flaw in his argument is that it depends on humans to determine what will make them happiest. But flawed people desperately need God’s help in becoming the people God made us to be.

When we claim that “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1a), we become our own god. But because humans are fallen and fallible, “They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (v. 1b). As a result, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2).

The good news is that our Father bridged this “separation” for us by sending his Son to die for our sins to reconcile us to himself (Romans 5:10; Isaiah 53:12). In this way, Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Consequently, when we confess our sins, God removes them from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12) and casts them “into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). This is because “he delights in steadfast love” (v. 18) and seeks to “set beauty in the land of the living” (Ezekiel 26:20).

David could therefore rejoice that God “forgives all your iniquity” and “satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:3, 5).

“Like a boat without an anchor”

Here’s the catch: to experience God’s best in this life and the next, it is vital that we live in light of mortality and eternity.

Our spiritual enemy will do all he can to divert us from both, assuring us that we have plenty of time to be right with God. Our fallen human nature agrees, enticing us to choose what we want now over what we want most and to seek present pleasure at the cost of eternal reward.

As a result, we need to pray daily with David:

“O Lᴏʀᴅ, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” (Psalm 39:4).

When we do, we will then testify: “You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!” (v. 5). And we will seek daily the presence, power, and peace that God alone can give us, no matter our circumstances and challenges.

Billy Graham was right: “A life without God is like a boat without an anchor.” Conversely, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer includes this intercession:

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.

Will you join me in making this prayer ours today?

Thursday news to know:

• Israel said mulling attacks on Iran oil rigs, nuclear sites in response to missile attack
• Israel says eight soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon
• Hamas claims responsibility for Tel Aviv shooting and stabbing attack
• Ship queue grows at US ports as dockworker strike enters third day
• On this day in 1990: East and West Germany reunite after forty-five years

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Seeking to perpetuate one’s name on earth is like writing on the sand by the seashore; to be perpetual, it must be written on eternal shores.” —D. L. Moody