Just Do Something!

Just Do Something. Don’t wait for perfection

It’s a true blog today, an account from my life.

Today we woke up with plans. Very good plans.

Our goal was to help people in the flood aftermath by using our best equipment and talents. Greg has heavy machinery that not many own, so he could use it to advance the cleanup, make search efforts easier, and use less muscle doing all of that.

It was such a good goal. The problem we ran into was that the entire storm effort has been spearheaded by many fractured groups doing the best they can in their local communities, often without any outside input. Then when the volunteers and generous givers come or deliver supplies, it gets confusing. A good kind of confusion, but, let’s face it—nobody is an expert in any of this. Ordinary people just have stepped up to fill a brand new need.

Appalachia Strong

We have been so overwhelmed with pride in the people in Appalachia. Neighbors are showing their stuff, and people from all across the nation and beyond (try Canada) have stepped in.

Devastation and Tragedy

The news is heartbreaking. Eyewitnesses and first responders will never truly recover from the scenes indelibly imprinted in their memories. We’ve spoken with some, and heard the accounts of others. The seriousness is palpable. This is what tragedy looks like on a widespread scale.

Do Something Today

Back to our family and our desire to help. We had today, and we made so many attempts at contact that ended up blank until we realized that even though we may not find the one hundred percent perfect fit, just heading somewhere was better than trying to keep knocking on doors to perfectly use every piece of equipment. Just do something is what we needed to do.

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I’m proud that our boys jumped in to help. They ended up in Cocke County moving sludge out of yards by the river there. The families were so thankful. They told stories of how seemingly miraculous water diversions left their house standing even though the river rushed through their yard. It’s good to hear some good stories, because there or so many tragic ones.

On the Homefront

Adam and I stayed to await word of work we could plug into. That also became a wild goose chase in many ways, with a friend in town and myself making many phone calls and contacts, finding many dead ends. It was strange and frustrating.

In the spirit of “just do something”, Adam jumped into continuing work planing boards and hanging planks on our basement walls. Turns out he uses his time wisely, as the perfect opportunity did not materialize today.

Dead Ends

While waiting, I made so many calls and checked many boards. A post came across my feed from a local facebook group. I was getting restless, because I’d planned to “just do something” today to help in the storm efforts. This was not that. It was a request for someone to take food and water to a man who could not get out.

This was not storm-related at all.

You know when you get your mind on one track it just wants to stay there? That’s how mine works, anyway.

I Can Do That

Yet, here was a need that I could fill. I didn’t know the circumstances. If a storm shut in needed food, I’d take it, and ditto for water, so why not someone else?

I made contact with my friend in town, who also was seeking to help, and we decided to pick up a food box, as well as gathering some food items personally.

We showed up, and delivered the food. The man thanked us, we prayed with him and learned a bit about him, and prepared to leave.

Are You OK?

Then he just did not look so good. I mean, like he looked bad. My friend offered a natural treatment she had, but he could not take it. I asked him some basic nursing questions, really trying to rule out my fear of him having a heart attack. He was sweating profusely, and I could see lots of sweat beaded up all over the top on his bald head.

He believed he’d eaten some bad bologna, and he left several times to go empty it out. We did offer him some activated charcoal, which he sipped on.

I felt strange about leaving him like that, so we stayed with him out under his carport until he seemed to be improving.

It Worked Out

We left believing we’d made a friend, and that of all the places we could have been today, God wanted us there.

I did call after several hours, just to make sure he was ok, and he said he felt much better this evening.

The Need to Accomplish

I came home and did a quick dash through the garden, even though the twilight was getting really dark. I wanted to feel like I’d accomplished something, so I harvested our butternut squash. I will go back out tomorrow when it’s light, because missed a bunch.

Some days just don’t quite turn out like we envision. Some days actually turn out how they’re meant to, despite our best laid plans.

While we are waiting for the perfect scenario to play out, we may find that we can make a new path that blesses ourselves and others if we dive in and just do something.