The Gospel Lived Out

It was the gospel of Jesus being lived out. 

By: Coleman Binford, P.E. Teacher and coach

On the evening of Tuesday, August 29, we had a huge rainstorm. It was one of those red dot storms on the radar that stays in one spot for quite a while. Around 7:45 PM, after two hours of blistering rain (and as I was enjoying a Braves game back in my office), I heard my wife, Melissa, start yelling frantically for me to come up to our kitchen. Our kitchen, laundry room, and several other rooms had water coming into them through the walls.

We quickly gathered towels, blankets, and anything else that could absorb water. We soon realized that we were fighting a losing battle and that the water was coming in faster than we could get it out. I ran through the rain to get an old shop vac we had in our shed. It still wasn't enough. I couldn’t suck up water and empty it out fast enough.

Melissa and our daughters, Haley and Emily, kept asking me the same question, “What do we do?” Of course, I had no answer … or at least no good answer. Certainly, we fervently prayed that the rain would stop, but unfortunately, it didn't.

We were feeling disbelief, desperation, and despondency, especially because this was not our first flood. In addition to a water line break in the early years of our marriage, we have had rain-related floods in 2009, 2020, and now this one in 2023.

HANDS AND FEET

As the water continued to come in, I decided to go to Home Depot and buy a sump pump while Melissa explained the situation on the Perimeter School Covenant Family Facebook page saying, “If you ever wanted to be the hands and feet of Christ, now is the time. We don’t have enough hands or feet over here!”

When I returned less than 45 minutes later, I saw something that I did not expect! That night, 38 people (who represented 18 different households) came to our rescue. Some we knew very well. Some we barely knew at all. They brought shop vacs, bags of sand, tools, towels, dehumidifiers, and manpower to get things done. Seeing so many people respond so quickly and selflessly was truly amazing. Without these people, I am pretty sure that every square inch of our home would have been underwater. As it happened, these folks saved about half of it. 

At about 10:30 PM that night, after getting most of the visible water out, two dozen of the wettest people that you have ever seen gathered with us to pray in our driveway. And since that day, so many people have stepped into our lives and helped us in numerous ways. They have prayed for us and provided meals, financial support, and even professional advice regarding our next steps. It has all been so appreciated, and it has made us feel so loved.

THE GOSPEL LIVED OUT

One of the first things that I said to everyone as we prayed in our driveway that night was, “I can never repay you for what you've done!” It's unlikely that I, or anyone else in my family, will have the opportunity to show up and save the day for these families the way that they did for us. (Although, if it ever does happen, we will be there!)

Of course, they did not show up with the hope of someday being repaid. They showed up out of love.

Does any of this sound familiar? Someone showing up and saving us when we needed saving? A debt that we could not possibly (re)pay? 

This whole event, the terrible, damaging flood, everyone's rushing over to help in the pouring rain, all of this is an example of the gospel. Jesus saved us simply because He loved us.

That night was a walking, breathing illustration of Jesus’ love. It was the gospel of Jesus being lived out, and we could not be more thankful.