Elizabethton is Going to be OK

My adopted hometown of Elizabethton, TN was hit hard by the recent hurricane. Flooding, bridges out, no electricity or communications, well over 100 people still missing, rescue efforts are still underway. Here are some pictures that my friends have taken in the past day or two:

The electricity went out early in the storm. The heavy rains hit the nearby mountains before they hit the town, so the floodwaters rose suddenly in the dark. By the time they realized they had a problem, they couldn't get out. And so they were stuck. Everything was windy, wet, cold, and dark. Absolutely terrifying.

On the mountainside above Elizabethton are three crosses which have been there for over 100 years. They're way up high above the town, so you can see them from everywhere. When the electricity went out, the crosses were no longer illuminated, which my friends said was extremely disconcerting. They've always been there. To have them no longer visible in such a terrifying time was, well, extremely disconcerting. Perhaps even terrifying.

Some men climbed up there in the storm, with a generator and some wiring tools. It's a sheer cliff - they had to pull the generator up with a rope. They worked in the rain and dark, and got the illuminating lights back on in the wee hours of the morning. A friend of mine took this picture soon after the crosses were re-illuminated.

He thought it was a miracle, because nothing else in the region had electricity. He found out later about the men with the generator. Although if you saw the size of this cliff, you'd think it was a miracle that those lunatics managed to get a freakin' generator up there in the rain and the wind and the dark. I wouldn't try that on a sunny day.

So, come to think of it, maybe it was a miracle. Who's to say?

Now, I know what you're thinking. With no electricity in the region, surely there are better uses for a generator than lighting up some crosses on top of a mountain. Surely somebody needs that generator and that fuel.

And you have a point.

But I don't know. I think those men may have done more for the people of Elizabethton than anyone else. Perhaps.

Those people were still sitting in the dark, in their flooded homes, praying for rescue.

But now they could see their beacon. An old friend, that has always been there. Reminding them of what they already knew: That they may feel alone. But they are not alone. They are never, ever, EVER alone.

Gasoline is in very short supply right now. But there is a signup sheet on one of the town's church's Facebook page, for boys to take turns carrying fuel up there, to make sure the light doesn't go out. And I suspect it won't.

Again, that may not be the best use of resources, under the circumstances. Or perhaps it is.

Who's to say?

In the wee hours of the morning of that terrifying night, my friend was soaked to the bone, sitting on top of a neighbor's barn, watching her house get pushed off its foundation by the floodwaters. When I talked to her this morning, she said that even though she was losing absolutely everything, when she saw the crosses light back up that night, she knew that everything was going to be OK.

What an incredible thought, under the circumstances. Absolutely incredible.

So I think that was a good use of resources. After all, who's to say?

I take the same view as my friend: Any town with men in it who would do something like that, under conditions like that - that town is going to be OK.

The people of Elizabethton have a lot of work to do. But they're not doing it alone, and they know it.

Elizabethton is going to be OK.