How the church can make an impact after Helene

Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. It's been devastating. Actually, I've heard the word apocalyptic. What's going on here since Hurricane Helene in the southeast, and Florida, and Georgia, and South Carolina, and certainly here in North Carolina. As we've heard, death tolls are well over 120 in North Carolina alone.

We understand that it's jumped up over 95. And so, as we talk about that today on Truth Talk Live, the question is how is the church, right? How are you? How are you responding to the Helene aftermath? I would love your thoughts, your prayers.

You know, what do you think? An 866, a number to call in. 866-348-7884.

866-348-7884. I have here with me my very, very, very good friend and Christian car guy, you know, long time associate, our Christian body shop guy, Jerry from Ray's Body Shop. You've been working on it all weekend, and God put it on your heart to get a truck together and a whole bunch of stuff, Jerry. Yeah, once the storm finally hit. We got to get your mic on, but let's try that mic. Maybe we can. Yeah, can you hear this? Yeah. All right.

Here we go. Yeah, once the aftermath, once it had finally hit and we saw the devastation of everything, it was kind of, you know, God just said, what can you do? What can you do to help people?

Because I tell you, the footprint of this is just so huge. And over the last, I mean, years, I've worked with different organizations and stuff where we've done flood relief supplies and stuff. And so it was kind of natural. I even had a lot of people that have helped in the past called and said, hey, are you going to do anything?

And I said, well, yeah, I don't know what it is yet. But I talked to Danny Spainour at Pinedale Christian Church and said, you know, I'd like to go ahead and partner with the church and let's figure out something to do. And then things started moving pretty quickly from that point on. And so as we stand here today, we've got a tractor and trailer that we're hoping to get filled up by this by Sunday at this time. We'll have it full and ready to send it up to Watauga County and bring up just a lot of supplies. And the thing is, when you sit there and something like this happens and you go, you know what, there's so many, what can I do? A lot of times not being organized, you can do more harm than good. And I've learned that lesson also, how to make sure that the time is right and stuff. That's part of the reason there's a lot of damage in Asheville. It's a lot of damage in Florida, you know, South Carolina, and you go all the way up Tennessee. But some of it is where people coming in, that's where the, like Billy Graham, you know, their organizations need to be involved because they're equipped and are able to go in and help instead of being in the way.

And there's that first few weeks, it's kind of a, you're trying to, trying to straddle the fence of being helpful or being in the way. And so we realized that, that most of the time, figure out we're a place that access is easy to get in and out. We always try to find a church to build to be an area, to be the drop-off point and also the distribution point. And for this storm that came in, we was able to partner with the Fisco Church in Watauga County, right, it's between Grandfather Mountain and Boone.

And then North Carolina. Right now they're a shelter and we'll be transitioning into a distribution center. And as you're listening, there's so many, you know, I know you think, well, I'm not really affected, but I tell you what, as I said, it's such a huge footprint. And as a Christian, I hope it's stirring people's hearts, you know, how can I help my brother? Because you know what, one thing that I always realized, and when you talk to people, and Robbie, you know this also, you know, it doesn't take much for the table to be turned and for me and you to be in that same situation. And you know what, as a Christian, if we can do that through the name of Jesus Christ, then it's more than just bringing them a bottle of water, we're bringing them more than just that water to meet that thirst need, we're bringing them something that hopefully will last much longer. And that's being able to know that it was through Jesus Christ and that they see Christ in our actions. Yeah, and that's a lot of wisdom in what he just described and Jerry described is that there are first responders and those first responders need to be able to get where they need to get to.

And then there's some that come right in behind them. And, you know, we got the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, actually, Jim Kirkland is going to be calling in here in a few minutes. And Andy Bowersox, who's with Energize Ministries, you know, they're up there and we're going to hear from him about 420. But what about you?

You know, what is it that you know, or how are you praying or what are some of your thoughts? You know, there's some very tragic, I mean, tragic, tragic, unbelievably tragic stories, one of them you're intimately familiar with, Jerry. Yeah, and a lot of people probably heard the story of the three people on the roof that were told to go to the roof of their house and wait for rescue.

And then, you know, with the water and stuff, you know, water is so powerful, and that's something people don't realize. It just kind of just took the strength out of the roof and the roof caved in. And so all three of them fell through the roof and drowned. And that was, you know, that's just, those stories just break your heart. And, you know, and as me and Robbie were talking earlier, I think because there's still areas that are isolated, and those numbers that we're seeing, those death numbers, I think, are going to just continue to rise. And, you know, there's families and people's homes and people's businesses that are just destroyed.

And I sit there and watch the videos from some of these. I've watched Chimney Rock, just basically that whole town be destroyed. I mean, there's not much left of Chimney Rock as we sit here today. Yeah, another friend was telling me that there was another family that was on the roof. They were trying to get them rescued. But as the rescuers couldn't get up the road there in Boone, North Carolina, and they ended up taking these four-wheelers because they could get them up there. Well, on the four-wheelers on their way up, they come across a tree that's across the house and they find four people that are actually under the tree that they were able to rescue on the way to go get the people that were on top of the roof. In other words, what makes it more difficult is when all the communications went out of that part of North Carolina.

And if you had friends and family up there, you know what I'm talking about. I made I don't know how many calls to get, you know, nobody can talk because they don't have the cell phone coverage and that kind of thing. And so here are these people under this tree and praise God, you know, this other family getting the rescue, you know, off it comes.

And so, you know, what do you know about this? You know, what would you say the church could do, will do, help, you know, all those things. We would love your calls. 866-348-7884.

You know, what is the church response in the aftermath of a lien today on Truth Talk Live? But it won't be the same without you. You call us 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. History was made. Pastor and teacher Chuck Swindoll.

Visit Insight for Living's website at insight.org. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today, a sad day, certainly across the country as we've got so much going on in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and, you know, the stories after stories. And maybe, you know, you've got one that we should be praying about or you know about, we would love to hear, you know, what your thoughts are, you know, what maybe your church is doing, what's going, what, what was the response of the church in this situation? 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. We got a couple of the first responders going to be calling in for a while in just a few minutes. But we have my good friend and Jerry with Ray's Body Shop and Record Service.

They are putting together a truck that hopefully we'll leave out early next week. And the thing I find fascinating, you've done these and what people need is a lot different than what you might think. You've learned that, you know, Robbie, as we were talking off the air, one thing that really surprised me is the need for dog food and cat food. And you think, I mean, you know what? You're going through a flood.

You don't have anything. You don't really think it doesn't really register that you're going to, you would need that. But I had conversations with people and they would say, you know, that people would not, they get food, non-perishables and not eat it, but also split it with their animal. And even their kids would do without as much. They split it all because they don't want to see their animals starve to death. So getting those, those pet foods down there is just huge.

You don't think about it. And as we're laughing about it, because Robbie said, well, you know, don't understand that. And I said, well, I can tell you now if, uh, we was in a crisis and my wife would let me starve just so I fed my dog. So I know, as soon as you said that, I was like, oh yeah, Tammy, with our dachshund, oh yeah, that's, Robbie's going to go hungry, but that's the situation.

You're a big boy. You can, you can make it a while without it, you know, but it's no laughing matter for certain. It's, it's a scary situation. And when those people are in that need, uh, so what's going on is you guys are taking items right now over at raised body shop, regular service that he happened to be in the Winston Salem, North Carolina area, but wherever you are, whether your churches, but the things that people need are the non-perishables diapers, diapers, non-perishables cleaning supplies. And that's something you don't really think about. One other thing that's kind of people don't think about that much. And I realize this a few years, well, quite a few years back, I think maybe when one of the trips to tar barrel, when the flooding was, was batteries, how many people are everything they are, you know, no longer have electricity. So everything is battery operated and they couldn't find batteries anywhere. So we really made a push.

And one of the, cause we've made about three runs down there. And one of the, one of the trips down there was basically batteries and diapers. And it was just a something you don't, I didn't think about then you think about it. It sure makes a lot of sense. That's, that's the only source of power they have. So, and, and as a matter of fact, I had somebody talk to me this past weekend about getting, sending it was under, they said they had access to those little solar panels that you, the little ones are no bigger than a cell phone that you could do that set up and charge your phone and that type of thing with it. Well, you might be aware of this.

I am that, um, certainly, you know, our church, West Nashville Baptist church is within, you could almost throw a rock and hit ever ready. And so a lot of our members work forever ready. And I know that they have access to all kinds of emergency battery. And so I'll see what I can find out, um, from, from, from some connections where we can get them some batteries or what kind of batteries, just all of them, triple A nine volt. Yeah.

Yeah. Cause it's, everybody has different type of, you know, so just any kind of batteries and they'll usually find, you know, if they're available, they're going to pick the ones they need and stuff. And so there's so many, there's just such a huge need there. And it's kind of, you know, always will say, if it's just something that you see, you want to pick up, if that's what God tells you to, to bring, believe me, somebody will use it because they've lost everything.

And the things that we take for granted, we don't realize till you don't have something, just how much it means to you and how much you need it to survive almost. And, you know, one thing, as I said, is, as Robbie, as you mentioned, raised body shop and record service, we're taking in donations now because the trailer probably won't be set up to Wednesday or Thursday at pine Dale. And so we're really planning on having a big push Saturday and Sunday and hope to get it filled up Saturday. We're going to take donations, the trailer from 8 a.m. To 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. And it'll be kind of, and that's a pine Dale Christian church again, if you're in Winston Salem and that's something that you can make.

Yeah. And so it'll be hectic around there. So I invite you to come because also we'll be doing our veterans dental clinic at same weekend. But there's other organizations out there. And again, I just think it's so important if at all possible, if you can do it with a Christian organization, it just gives the opportunity to share Christ with people. And they are able to see is that every time you. I think even Stu stuck his head in here and he said, you know, there's people who don't believe in Jesus Christ, but there certainly will be there for the for the help.

And if we can do that, it may be what may be what opens that door to people and lets them know that, you know what? These people care for me for one reason. Jesus Christ cares for them, right?

That's absolutely the case when that stuff comes in his name and and, you know, organizations like Samaritan's Purse are on the on the scene right now. And again, find out what your church is doing. You know, we would love to hear, you know, stories of what you guys are doing out there or what other things that we should be doing, obviously praying. But we want to hear your story.

Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four, eight, six, six, three, four truth. Or maybe you had a connection to a family member and and you know, some of the people personally that we need to be praying for the situation. You know, I certainly have some that I've yet to be able to reach that are up there that I would really like to know that they're OK. Yeah.

And if you if you're in Ohio or Florida, wherever it may be, I mean, maybe you call in and just talk about an organization, you know, in your area that is collecting and doing something, you know, spread the word. Yeah, because and again, the beauty of it is it's like I was in Georgia over the weekend, a car show at Sweetwater Baptist Church. But I drove through South Carolina on Friday afternoon after it had blown through. And what I saw not so much in Georgia, but in South Carolina, below where Asheville is, thousands, not hundreds of trees, thousands of trees that had come across Interstate 85 and that had been cut off and left there on the shoulder just tree after tree after tree. And I thought, oh, my goodness, how many houses, how many cars, how many people, you know, and then you couldn't get gas at a lot of the places because there was no power and you could find a gas station that was open.

And oh, my goodness, they were all backed up just to get gasoline. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, the other thing that we kind of overlook sometimes when you see this and you think that, you know what, I'm going to really pour into it for a week or two weeks, three weeks, maybe a month. But so many of these families are this is going to be years of recovery. And, and it's just so important. And that's why I think it's so important to work with churches and stuff, because also, what I like to do when we do and I do things, I always try to find a local church that's that's operating as a shelter and distribution center and work through them because that'll hopefully brings that community to that church where they're going to, you know, be there to go alongside them for more than just a couple of weeks. No, it's what makes all the difference.

It really, really does. So, you know, we're going to go to a break. When we come back, hopefully we'll have some of those first responders and call in force for second responders. I guess you'd better call them, but we would love to hear yours.

866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! Today, how is the church? How should the church respond to the aftermath of the lien? We've heard, oh, horrific reports of all that has gone on. And, you know, what is the body of Christ's response to that? We're waiting on Jim Kirtland with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. We're trying to get up with him. Andy Bowersox with Energized Ministries are all on the scene right now. And part of what we're hearing from them is it's one thing for all of us to see, you know, we see the news, we see the landslides, we see the death tolls, we see all that.

But if you're isolated up right now and you're on the mountain and nobody's had cell phone service and no power and all that, they're alone and they don't know what in the world's going on and they don't know how long to work, you know, all this is going to go on or, you know, and they're just very, very isolated. And so, man, your prayers are just huge, just absolutely huge. But also the practical aspect of Jerry, you guys are putting stuff together there for Pinedale, but right now they can drop it off at Jerry's Body Shop here in Winston-Salem.

And at your church, I'm sure they're looking for the same kind of things. And so critical supplies that the guys are collecting are water, obviously. Yeah. You get water, you know, diapers are huge and stuff. And because that's just something you got kids and stuff, diapers, water, non-perishable foods, and again, batteries.

That's something you don't think about. And also pet food. And then you just go down, you know, just right now, so many people have nothing. And that's one of the things we talked to the people at a couple of the shelters and stuff. They said people don't have a house to go back to and they're there. And what they had is what they carried under their arms or in a backpack or something. And that's, that's everything they had because the devastation of this, you know, for me, it's just so hard to wrap my mind around just losing everything.

And that's what they've done. I mean, you can talk to somebody after a fire or flood and they're talking about all the, you know, what, that, that they had my wedding pictures or my parents' pictures in there and, you know, memories are just, you know, they just got washed away. And that's just, as I said, this is something that the initial thing you think in a few weeks will be over and rebuilt, but a lot of these people don't have insurance, don't have means to rebuild. They don't have means to rebuild a life. So that's why insurance against something like that.

There isn't, there isn't insurance, you know? And so what do you do if they don't have the, didn't have the funds and the money and the resources they can't rebuild. So they just lost probably things that their whole life's work. And that's why it's just so important to me to make sure that we do this through Christ and also do it through local churches and stuff that they can maybe help walk this journey with them.

Cause it's not going to be a this week or next week or this month, or maybe next month, it may be five years from now, they're still trying to come out of the devastation of this. And that's, that's just hard to see. And, and, and I personally, and I know Robbie does too, you know, we hurt for, for that hurt for those people. Yeah. And, and, you know, it's amazing to me, as I mentioned, we were at this car show that you do do the show so wonderfully every year. And one of the things I wanted to point out is the whole purpose of the show has always been to share Christ. That, that, that was what they told me from the get go. And they've always had me there to, to share a gospel message, but you know, what happened Saturday was they're praying, praying, praying that God will be made real to somebody.

Right. And clearly, you know, my wife is asking that question in Asheville right now, you know, how did, why did God, well, maybe you've heard that old song, you know, what if a thousand sleepless nights is what it takes to know you're near? Well, for a lot of folks, they didn't realize how close God was until, you know, here they are in this situation.

And I don't understand, I really don't, but I do know that God does. And so when, when we're supplying that, and I was just going to tell this story about this man, he was 71 years old. And one of the guys there at Sweetwater was judging his car, great guy by the name of Anthony, by the way. And he says to him, he says, so, you know, do you love Jesus to the guy, you know, he's judging his car and he goes, Oh, I've been in church since I was eight years old.

And, you know, I never miss it. And he goes on like that. And, and of course this deacon being very cognizant of the situation says, well, there's a bigger question.

Like if you took your last breath right this minute, you know, do you know where you would end up? And the man said, honestly, I really don't. And, uh, my friend said to him, you can know, and you can know right now. And he went on to share exactly, you know, Jesus died for you, you know, his blood was there for your sin. And if you accept that new, and if you can know that, you know, that, that, you know, you're on your way to heaven right now. And so what happened and all of us saw it, man, is this guy starts balling. And I mean, he's receiving Christ right there in the spot.

And next thing you know, they're on the pavement. They're literally down on their knees down there begging for God that, you know, it was a beautiful, wonderful, amazing thing. But yeah, it's as simple as a car show, but it's done in Jesus name, right? It's done with his power and it's done with all of y'all's prayers. In other words, as we all are praying that God has a purpose, right? That he's not going to let, he's not going to waste pain.

He just doesn't do it. And so here's this opportunity for us to be the hands of feet of Christ, but whoever's actually delivering the goods, you know, they're delivering them with our prayers and, and with our opportunity to, to share that kind of message. You know, that to me, it's, it's, you know, you talk about the working out of this stuff for a lifetime, but we're talking about working out stuff for eternity, right? And, and, and God cares way more about their eternity than what's going to go on over the next, you know, 20 or 30 years. And it's our opportunity to be part of what God's doing.

Yeah. God wants us to walk alongside those that are hurting. And that's just so powerful. And, and as we're sitting here and I think, you know, there's probably people listening and I wish people would call and say, if they know organizations that are doing stuff or if you're, if there's a story that a family member or friend that's in the middle of this, that, that just, you know, just, just reach out for prayer for them. But another thing people can do, I mean, if you're sitting there, I know a lot of churches, a lot of smaller churches and local churches and different parts of our listening audience that may be looking for something to do and say, well, I can't really an organization as far as getting them there. If you do a collection, then somebody could just like, if you're in this, this Winston-Salem area, you know, have your church do a collection and Saturday or Sunday, bring it to pine day. We'll put it in the trailer and it'll get up there with all the other stuff because every little bit will make a difference. And you don't, you know, sometimes we will think, you know what, my little bit or, or we're a small church, we can't help, but you know what?

It does help. But the most important thing is what Robbie, you were just talking about, is the prayers. It's just, just knowing that they're just bathed in prayer and just praying for, for peace and comfort for people, just safety for people and, and, and just prayers that they'll have the strength to carry on because there's a lot of people out there who, who's, their relationship their relationship with Christ is, is fragile.

And I hate to say it. And sometimes, as you mentioned, this may be the thing is the deacon in beside the car that finally points it out. You know what, where's your faith really at?

Where's your trust really at? Right. And when you have to honestly answer that it can be a humbling experience.

And, you know, it's, it's also a wonderful opportunity. I know that I talked to my daughter Saturday night. She's crying. I mean, she's just devastated by the whole what's going on.

Right. And, and, and she's trying to find a way to put, you know, her feet to her faith. You know, what can I do? What can I do? And, and Carmen, who is the program director here, you know, and she heard what Pinedale was doing, you guys were doing, you know, immediately she was like, man, man, you know, what do I, I, she wants to take part in that.

Everybody does. And so, you know, if you can put that together at your church, your Sunday school, I guarantee you, if, if, if Jerry's truck gets full, we'll find a way, we'll find somebody that's doing, I, you know, again, Andy Bowersox all over the place with Energize Ministries and, you know, he'll be going up there trip after trip, because there's just not one trip, is it Jerry? This is, this is a long term thing. We always plan on it not being one trip because of, really, to tell you the truth, we get up there and the first trip is to get that need met, and then kind of find out what the next step is, because every area is different, every situation is a little bit different, the devastation is a little different, so it may not even be going back to the same church. It may be in a few weeks, some roads are open back up and the need be somewhere else, and that may be where our next trip is, it may be in, outside of Asheville, it may be in Lake Moore or something. Well, there's places in South Carolina, I can assure you, and I can assure you, and certainly in Florida, oh my word, I mean, and more people that lost everything, and, and what, what's even worse is the families of those who lost lives, you know, and, you know, that where faith really can make a difference is somebody's just putting their arm around them. Sometimes people just need to know that somebody cares for them, and then by them feeling somebody cares for them, if we can make sure, if we're the one caring for them, that we let them know the reason we care for them is because Jesus Christ cares for them more than we do. Right, and so I'm sure sitting there, you know, you're thinking, I, you know, let me get in on this, I want to talk about what God's put on my heart for this, or what my church, we would love to hear, we would love to hear from you, 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884, how should, how can the church respond under this situation? We would love to hear your thoughts. We'll be right back with a whole lot more Truth Talk Live.

Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! Today, how can the church respond, you know, what can we do in the aftermath of a lien? The death count is well over, you know, 120 nationally, and we fear that that will more than double as they get to all the poor folks that, they just had no way to get to them, no way to know that they were in trouble, because, you know, one of the first things that happened up there was that they lost cell phone coverage, and then the power went out, and nobody's got any communication, and things are difficult, and so, you know, this, I think, what were you saying, over 95 in North Carolina alone? Yeah, that's what I heard before I came in, was 95 in North Carolina, and, wow, like I said, I think those numbers, and, I mean, everybody will know those numbers are going to go up just because of isolation and areas that they can't get to. It's hard. So if you know, you know, may know somebody that we can be praying for, you know, specifically a family, you know, stranded, a family that's lost someone, you know, that's what we're here for, the body of Christ come together in prayer, obviously, we're putting together supplies, we're doing all those kind of things, but we would love your call 866-348-7884, 866-34, truth, I was telling Jerry right before her turn the break that, you know, when Hurricane David hit Savannah, I got trapped on Wilmington Island, and I got to experience actually being on Ground Zero when that hurricane came in, and it's exactly like emergency broadcast, there's no, you don't hear anything because the power goes out, the radios go out, you have no communication, and you're in no man's land, and I don't think we had power for about three or four weeks, and ice was like on a high, like if you could find ice, you were the luckiest man in the world, and of course, that's perishable, so you don't just truck ice up there so easy, but it's, you know, and it was a difficult, a difficult situation, but I told Jerry that, you know, he had mentioned that dog food was a big must up there, well, the whole reason I went back to the island to begin with, I got stuck was because my dog, and there I was, now I had to feed it for three weeks with no, you know, with the food that we were sharing, because it was all, you know, we could do, and you have no idea what it's like to be that isolated, or I wouldn't have had any idea what it'd be like to be that isolated, and the idea that you really have no concept of what might be going on, you can't see the ground, you can't see roads, because there's debris everywhere, and with those mudslides and all that's going on up there, you know, it's absolutely unbelievable. Yeah, you sit there and you think, I mean, just imagine that as we're sitting here today, in 30 minutes from now, everything we own is gone. I mean, you just wrap your brain around that, and that's what they're experiencing and stuff, so it's just, I mean, it's just heartbreaking. Like I said, one thing that really kind of sticks in my mind so much is just the massive land that has been affected, and, you know, I've worked a lot of hurricane relief things, and usually it's more central, it's not nearly this massive, and cover as many states and affect as many towns and counties to the level that it is. I mean, it's usually your, you can always know where the eye of the storm was, where that one part was hit harder.

Right now, that footprint is huge. Tell me, it was really something. Well, we got Mike is in Dayton, Ohio, and, you know, up there where you've watched this all take place, Mike, I know that you're praying, my friend. Yes, I am, and can you hear the generator in my backyard? It hit Ohio a little bit too.

Oh, really? I got, yeah, we got windstorm about 70 miles an hour, windstorms, then knocked out a bunch of power. Huge area in Dayton, Ohio, Kettering area, lots of homes lost power, over 200,000 people lost homes.

I got a real, an older couple to the left of me and an older couple to the right of me, and I got extension cords running left and right. I'm, I got two that I'm cooking for both of them, making sure they're okay. Pray for me as well, and it's, it's, it's a, it's not, it's this power. It's not loss of home or loss of life or loss of things that other people in North Carolina and Florida and everywhere else, but here we are in Ohio and we got the, a little bit of it too. The guys down the street are cutting down trees to get, get the power lines up right now, and it's, you know, it's a stressful time a little bit, you know, you're worried about your food and your refrigerator that you spend a lot of money for, and so did my neighbors, and we got, we got to take care of it, but it's, you know, it's... Oh yeah, I, I'm with you because I, like I said, when I was in Hurricane David, we were without power for three weeks, and yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's a devastating thing. If you've been without power since Friday, this, you're on day four, whatever, right? Yes, we are, and my, I'm tired of my hands smelling like gas, you know, you know, but, you know, it is, it is what it is, and thank God we, we have a generator and, and money to pay for gas, and, and, and I can take care of our neighbors, and... Why don't, why don't, Mike, why don't, why don't we just pray, and I'll just, I'll just start, and, and, and Jerry, and then you jump in, okay?

That'd be really, I can't think of a better thing to do, I really can't. Lord, thank you so much for those that you have protected through this storm, and, and, and we know that you're coming to the rescue of those that are in desperate need, and, and, and Lord, show us, and help us to know where we need to engage in this, what we can do. Lord, we do pray for those poor, poor folks who've lost family members, or those that are hospitalized, because if there's kind of death tolls, you can imagine the injuries that people are facing. Lord, we know that, that you're on top of all that, and, and Lord, we pray that you would come to the rescue. Lord, come to the rescue, as we know that that is, that is what you do, that you are a God who saves, and so come to the rescue of those who have never known you, and as a result of this tragedy, see you in a new fresh way, Lord. We know you're going to work this all for good, and I pray these things in Jesus' name.

Lord, right now, I just lift up Mike. I lift up the fact that, you know what, God put him there for a reason, and that is to be, you know, to bring comfort to his neighbors, and I just thank you for that. I thank you for all those that are, are, are out there on the front, just, just working the, the first responders, the people trying to restore power, the people just trying to clean the roads, and try to get things open back up. I just lift up those that have lost so much, lost life, lost friends, lost family, lost homes and businesses. Lord, sometimes when we're on this side of those crises, it's hard to understand sometimes, but we know that you're in control. We know that you may not bring it on, but we also know that you can make the good out of it, and I just pray that that good will be bringing people to Christ, that through it all, as people are, people are reaching out for help, that they'll see that it's coming from Jesus Christ, and that they'll understand the importance of having that relationship with you. Again, just be with Mike, be with all those out there in the listening audience that, that, that is out there sacrificing so much for those in so much need. Yes, Lord, I just pray that the North Carolina and the South Carolina and all the hurricane words, Florida, all the people that were really devastated by, by this Lord, that you make a way that, that is uplifting and, and that they know that you are the reason why things came to the good and not from the bad, from the bad to the good, because, oh, because you're in charge. And Lord, I, you're, you're not in charge of the weather and the bad, but you're in charge of our lives. And Lord, may the first responders and the second responders know that the second responders take, just keep them safe and, and, and let them know that you're with them and, and take care of them and, and as well, Lord, in Jesus' name.

Yeah. And I was just thinking, Lord, guide them, guide those responders to the people that are really hurting and help them to find the ones that are under trees or in dire, dire need, wherever that may be. May the church find those that are in dire, dire need of you. May you give us unbelievable discernment and just a beautiful wisdom on how to really be of service to you to be in where you're working.

And Lord, I again, thank you for my friends and I thank you for all that I know you're doing in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey Robby, where's a monetary gift that I can send to you, to the guy that's with you today? Oh, with Jerry? With Pinedale? Yeah.

Please send, put it on your website or something so I can send a monetary gift down there. So bless his heart, bless him. Just love what he's doing. It's amazing. So amazing that there's David and Goliath out there trying to help conquer Goliath, you know?

He's a Goliath. He's a little guy trying to do something, something for his community. And that's awesome, you know what I mean?

Thank you for your kind words, Mike. Yeah. If you go to Pinedale Christian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, obviously, Mike, Pinedale Christian Church, and there you're going to see a way, and I would just earmark it that, you know, it's for the assistance to Hurricane Helene. Yeah. And the website is pinedale.church is the website.

Pinedale.church. I hope other listeners are listening and they can help you out too. I mean, that would be awesome. I know I'm just a listener, but... Well, we're all just listeners. Let me just assure you that, believe me, Mike, we are all just listeners. And if we got our ears tuned to where they need to be... And sometimes I'm not a very good listener.

Yeah, my wife would assure you of that particular fact, that Robbie is not all that good a listener as he needs to be in so many circumstances. But boy, do we need to be in times like these. Mike, I'm so grateful for you and your love for people. And Jerry, for texting me this morning, calling Stu, and being involved with what you're doing. Lord, we thank you for our listeners.

And we know that without them, we wouldn't have a show. So I thank you for all you're doing in this. And we just certainly will keep praying for all these folks out there. Thanks again for listening. Bye-bye.