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Many Americans Rose To The Occasion After Storms

To The Reader’s Forum:

A pastor felt overwhelmed by the load of responsibility on his shoulders for a ministry that has expanded beyond his expectations. His candor was followed up by a prayer offered by an empathetic pastor giving thanks to the Lord for his colleague’s “hard blessing.” That pastor prayerfully discerned the situation regarding the hardness of the daunting responsibility and blessedness of the splendid results occurring.

As ravaging hurricanes have clobbered segments of our nation, the destruction and fallout from the storms have felt overwhelming. Nevertheless, a multitude of Americans rose to the occasion and went out of their way to help. It did not matter that people were Democrat or Republican, left or right, black or white or for or against Confederate statues staying up. Volunteers and professionals did not hesitate to risk their lives to pluck someone out of imminent danger. People contributed generously with financial gifts and other kinds of assistance. These included serving meals kindheartedly to displaced flood victims, working in a shelter tirelessly, and putting in overtime sacrificially to get flood ravaged communities up and running again.

Sometimes, it takes hard circumstances like we have witnessed to see the blessing of loving a neighbor boldly emerge in tangible and heroic ways. As difficult as it is to see the massive cleanup and recovery awaiting entire neighborhoods, it is good to know that there are many more compassionate and charitable Americans working for good than for the fascist-like elements in America dressed in black hoods as Antifa or the white hoods of the KKK both scheming in evil. Though we regrettably watch ungrateful and disrespectful NFL players sit out the national anthem, we still remember Pat Tillman who, after 9-11, loved his country more than pro football and paid the ultimate price with his life.

America is changing in a post-modern, post-Christian and post-Constitutional culture. Though current political, cultural, academic and even religious trends relativize America for worse, there are Americans who have not forsaken the absolute of love your neighbor. In a land that has questioned and abandoned the Bible, a thread of its absolute authority remains in America when love rises to the surface in a time of crisis to help out a neighbor regardless of a person’s identity. If there is a compelling absolute to love, it’s grounded in the Book of the One who spoke absolutely about himself saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

The Rev. Mel McGinnis

Frewsburg

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