“I've never seen the family of God, regardless of denominational or political differences, unite as one to lift up a brother in Christ.”
After Hurricane Helene dropped incredible amounts of rain on the Appalachians, many areas experienced once-in-a-lifetime floods.
That included people in the Johnson City, Tennessee, region.
Surveying the significant damage, one of the first concerns Courtney Dailey had was for an elderly family friend named Jerry Poole in nearby Hampton.
“We couldn’t get in touch with him. So, we drove to his house ... and he was just standing up in his front yard, crying in two-feet of mud. The water had rushed into his house, came through his bedroom window. He was in his garage workshop at the time. But he looked up and the water raised up four-feet in a matter of seconds.” Jerry escaped, jumped into his car, “He floated down the street. And he says that was a ‘God thing,’ because this car, you can’t drive in water that deep – the water was all the way up to the top of his car – and he floated to the end of the street and made it to higher ground.”
All Jerry could do at that point was watch as the cold brown water gushed through his home of fifty years, wrecking everything, and then it blew out the back of the house taking all his possessions with it. “He had this huge deep-freezer, it was just gone. We still haven’t found it. Just gone!”
Help is on the way
The next morning, Courtney grabbed shovels, and her husband powered up his excavator, “and we just decided to go down Spring Street and start trying to help people.” By 10:00 a.m., “we had a dozen people shoveling mud” out of Jerry’s house. Courtney emphasizes, none of the people wading through mud knew each other. “It was a bunch of people from different churches, different communities, just showing up trying to help.” Someone even arrived with a pressure washer.
And other residents who had suffered damage were also getting volunteer help. At least 40 pieces of equipment like excavators and backhoes were brought in by everyday folks determined to help people who were stunned and hurting. Dump trucks lined the road hauling out soggy debris.
Courtney fully credits God for the incredible response, and explains that hour-by-hour, as equipment and volunteers were needed, God just sent them.
It was around lunch time, and “I said to myself, ‘Man, it’s great that we have all of the mud out of the house. I really wish we could have done the drywall and insulation removal.’” Just then, another God thing. “I looked down the street and here comes 12 women,” who asked if they could help. They were from Isaiah House and were wearing Jesus t-shirts. Courtney explained the need to tear out the drywall and the women said, “’Sure let’s go,’ and they all piled into the house – and we were ripping it out with our bare hands.” But not for long. Just then a man arrived with a load of tools. Then a person dropped off a ladder. “And the whole day long, every single time we needed anything, someone showed up with it,” as God’s provisions continued. In our interview (available on the podcast just below) Courtney’s voice changes with a sigh as she realizes what God is doing. “It’s really hard to talk about because it was extremely emotional and impactful to see all of these people – God’s people – just coming together … God met every single need the whole entire day and he continues to.”
Here's our podcast interview that will encourage you tremendously about the faithfulness of God, the response of his people, and the power of determination to help others in Jesus’ name.
“All these people, all they want to do, is just shine God’s light…and to watch people standing together in front yards – with all the wreckage – holding hands and praying together, and comforting each other. And they’re all from different groups. It’s not one denomination. It’s not one political affiliation, it’s not all the same skin color – it doesn’t matter! There’s so much division right now, but when God’s people come together, the unity has been the most beautiful and miraculous thing I have been able to witness. It’s just been the greatest blessing for the volunteers who have been able to witness all of this.” Courtney humbly added, “None of us feel worthy to even be part of what’s going on.”
Video from right after the flood tore through Jerry's house and neighborhood: