The WEST VIRGINIA Way

Photo Courtesy of B. Mathias

Psalm 39:7 

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for? 

My hope is in You."

This past week, a lot of memories came rushing back to native West Virginian's. Memories of total devastation, death, and stuff we lost in other floods. We remembered how water has changed our state’s natural terrain; and we recalled stories our parents told us of other floods too. And none of us had the power to stop these memories any more than we could have stopped the rain.  I still remember the smell of 1985's flood mud and hearing boulders and homes crashing together as they made their way down stream…some things are never forgotten. But let me be honest, I've only been safely trapped in my home by flood waters without power and water, watched bridges float away like twigs and cars bobbing down the Potomac River. So I can only imagine what folks are actually going through. But my heart aches for them and our state. So other than the horrible loss of our neighbor's life in 1996 and my stupid decision to try going to work, hauling my daughters over that same flooded road, what I have to give my fellow West Virginian’s is prayer, compassion and a few donations. 

Our 2016 devastation swamped news feeds on social media and national news. Most are calling for prayers and asking "How/where can I help?" or "Hey WV, we are on our way." Oh! Since cowards seem to find nerve to spout off behind an electronic shield, there have been a few ignorant posts, as well as some that just weren't thought out before hitting the Tweet button. But here in W. Va. we believe that some folks' opinions matter and, well to be honest, some just don't. So we took a mental note of how pathetic those folks proved themselves to be and thanked God that they don’t live here. Then we picked up our donations and bent our backs to help our neighbors in need.

There is no other point to this post than this: West Virginian’s are tough. We are armed with faith. We have our neighbor’s back. We care more about others than our own personal comfort. And we will get through this because we trust in God to see us through. Our state will be hurting and remembering this for decades – the rest of our lives really…But when it happens again, you can bet your bottom-taxable-dollar, that we will come out in droves with bleach, rags, water, and fun packs for our little ones, to help each other as any good neighbor will do. As my dad would have said: “It’s the W. Va. way.”

#WVFlooding; #WVStrong

In Christ with love and compassion,

Coach Kelly