The Journey Home
By Chris Rathbone
Mitchell County
Our outdoor activities have been few and far between this fall. With the arrival of Hurricane Helene and all the devastation that followed, priorities shifted from focusing on deer season to recovering from the aftermath. Helene brought the worst flooding and wind damage our small county and region has ever seen. There’s been the loss of life, homes, and property on a scale that almost all of us have never experienced. My family lives in the town limits of Bakersville in Mitchell County. Although our basement flooded, we lost a vehicle, and had a lot of mud and debris on our property, we were blessed and fortunate that’s all that happened to us. Our beautiful little town has been devastated. Homes and businesses were damaged severely, roads washed away, power outages for weeks, and still some in the outlying areas with no electricity. We’ve missed the sites and sounds the children make while on the playground across from our house. The beautiful creek walk where so many people enjoyed the sites and sounds of Cane Creek has pretty much been washed away.
Our county has been so blessed with so many donations, volunteers, and organizations coming in to help. While progress has been slowly made with utility services, the cleanup and rebuild will take months and years. Not only have homes been washed away in many communities, but the property the homes sat on is also gone. To my knowledge, all communities are accessible now although some roads and bridges had to be completely rebuilt. The number of trucks and equipment in our county to help with the recovery is quite impressive and for that, we are extremely grateful.
On September 20th, my son Gabriel and I, along with his buddy Dawson, flew out of Asheville for a week of fishing in the Ennis area of Montana. Of course, we had no idea what was in store for the following week at home. As we talked with family back home and listened to the forecasts, our hearts grew concerned for our families and loved ones. My last communication with my wife Michelle was on Thursday, September 26th, at around 6 am. After that, all communication was down. Watching reports on the news of all the devastation that was happening, caused our hearts to be greatly concerned. The lack of communication increased the worry exponentially, to say the least. We flew from Bozeman to Dallas/Fort Worth on Friday the 27th knowing that our flight to Asheville that evening had already been canceled. We finally received word about 7 pm that all the family was safe. A great burden was lifted from our hearts. That night in the motel room, we sat down and decided that there was no way we were gonna get home by flying into Asheville. We decided to go to the airport the next morning, rent a car and drive home. Jesus prospered our path and Avis car rental had a van to rent with locations in Johnson Ctiy. So we headed out.
A couple of Facebook posts by folks who made it over the mountain out of Buladean to Johnson City let us know one lane was passable. I knew in my heart that the good ol boys and girls would have that road open completely by the time we got back. And sure enough, they did. By the grace of God, we arrived home about supper time on September 29th. My wife Michelle, my son Reuben, and his wife Kaylan went through the storm without me and it just about crushed me that I wasn’t here with them. When we pulled into the driveway, they were all on the porch and Michelle was cooking supper on the Coleman stove. What a blessing and a burden lifted when I saw their faces.
This journey is far from over for our little town of Bakersville and Mitchell County. We ask for your prayers and support through the weeks, months, and years ahead. While our outdoor adventures have been put on the back burner for now, when the dust settles, Lord willing, we’ll be back at it. It’s not ok right now, but we know with the Lord’s help, it’s gonna be alright. These are the paths we have to travel sometimes on our journey home to Him.
In Christ,
Preacher Chris
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Preacher Chris Rathbone is the Pastor at Bear Creek Baptist Church and is now serving the Lord as needed while preaching the Gospel. You can read more Good Christian News from Pastor Chris HERE.
You can connect with Preacher Chris on Facebook HERE.
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