Early on September 14th, 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall into the Carolinas. As the wettest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the area, the storm wreaked havoc on the ill-prepared and poverty stricken areas. It wasn’t that Florence was particularly destructive or fast-moving- rather, it creeped slowly through the states. The problem was that it simply poured out rain for days and days, causing mass flooding and destruction. This is where our story starts- a small, poor town just outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. This is Burgaw.
The residents of Burgaw, many never having even considered purchasing flood insurance (as much of the area is in what is considered a 100 year floodplain), were displaced and lost everything. Aerial footage of the site showed the incredible power of Hurricane Florence, not in its fierce winds, but in the 9 feet of water it left behind. You could clearly see the height that the water reached from the markings left behind on buildings and trees.
In response to the tragedy, a group of students from Indiana University gave up their Homecoming weekend to go and serve in whatever way they could. They encountered people from all different backgrounds, served them, and listened to their stories. The work they did was grueling. Many of the homes they worked on still had not been touched since the water receded, leaving behind wrecked interiors that often smelled of mold and mildew. However, the work wasn’t just to give the people of Burgaw hope that their homes would be saved. It was to give them the hope of the coming Jesus Christ.
Alex Raycroft, a sophomore at Indiana University, had some touching words about her experience: “Just seeing how much brokenness there is in the world, seeing all of the piles of people’s belongings, just seeing complete wrecks- moldy, smelly, gross. There was so much destruction. You could really see how much people lost. There was so much hurting and brokenness and just awful things happening. Just in the world as a whole, there’s so much of this going on. But in the midst of all of that, there’s still so much beauty in God’s creation. Being on the beach and looking out at the sky and the waves and realizing how much bigger God is than all of our brokenness and destruction in our lives. He’s so much bigger. His goodness still reigns so much stronger than any storm that could come into our lives or wreck people’s homes.”
Jeremiah 29:11: ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’
