Amid the pain of having house and church damaged by severe flooding in eastern Kentucky, Wesley Russell’s faith in the providence of God has never wavered.
Russell, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, saw first-hand the rapid rise in water that has disrupted the lives of a multitude of people in his community. As he looks back on last weekend and the widespread devastation caused by the flooding, he is reminded that God is in control regardless of the circumstances.
‘We are not in control’
“We keep telling people that we love talking about the providence of God — we talk and talk about that,” Russell said. “We have members who have lost homes, but this is now an opportunity to actually see that — if you are a believer — we are not in control as we think. We ask: do you actually believe that through tragedy and things like this that God is in control and He is doing something?”
Russell reflects on a 2012 quote by John Piper: “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” In talking about that quote, Russell said, “This (flood) doesn’t change that. God is doing something, and it is for our good and His glory. I believe God is going to have His name glorified, not just in Pikeville but the whole world.”
He adds, “We have seen God do so many cool things.” That includes the way God protected the Russell family Feb. 15.
The Russells had prepared for several inches of water coming into their home, piling possessions on top of beds, tables and a couch. But the river crest continued to escalate. By 10 p.m. Saturday, there was up to five feet of water in the basement. By midnight, water had risen into the house.
Immediate evacuation
“I had originally planned on making three trips to the church to take stuff there. My first trip was with our animals,” Russell said. But when he saw the water rising by the seconds, he returned home in the church van and told his family they had to evacuate immediately.
That was not as easy as you might suspect. Russell had ACL surgery recently and, by his admission, “was not supposed to get around well.” His wife, Alaina, is eight and a half months pregnant, and they have a 19-month-old toddler.
God’s timing
With their basement flooded and about 3 feet of water in their home, they found God’s timing met their need. “In about four minutes time, the road went from having no water to two or three feet of water. There are so many little actions we take every day that can change our day by three or four minutes, but because God is in control He allowed us to be right on time to come out of the flooding.”
Russell said “a gracious church member is giving us a place to stay until we figure something out.”
Immanuel sustained heavy damage to its fellowship hall, which ended up with about 6 feet of water. Water did not make it into the sanctuary and foyer.
Russell said during the flooding, “it has been a great opportunity to see people’s hearts. We have had people reaching out and praying — people from Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota. People have gone out of their way to go to our website and pray for us.”
Fox News shared a video of Russell walking out of the church the next morning. “It looks like I am on a barge in the middle of the ocean,” he said. “It all feels like a blur — I never imagined time going this fast.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chip Hutcheson and originally published by Kentucky Today.
