How God Is Sustaining the Thirsty in Jackson, Mississippi

“My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land the place there isn’t a water.”

These phrases from the opening verse of Psalm 63 landed a bit otherwise on the afternoon of August 29, after I turned on my faucet and nothing occurred. As of that day, Jackson, Mississippi, had been underneath a boil water discover for nearly a month attributable to excessive turbidity (cloudiness) within the water provide.

A boil water discover was nothing new for Jackson, the place getting old infrastructure usually causes temporary interruptions in water stress or cleanliness. However extraordinarily heavy late-summer rains had brought on the Pearl River to surpass flood stage and crest at virtually 36 ft. The incursion of the Pearl into the town’s most important water remedy plant brought on a crucial failure of the pumps and an lack of ability to maneuver clear water all through the town.

I’ve lived in Mississippi’s capital metropolis my complete life, and I grew up in a historic district—the town’s first subdivision—the place potholes and boil water notices had been the norm. However I’d by no means seen something like this. Fortunately, water stress returned to some connections sporadically. However the occasions that many started calling “the Jackson Water Disaster” nonetheless left lots of Jackson’s almost 170,000 residents with little or no consuming water.

Native, state, and federal entities moved rapidly to resolve the quick mechanical issues and restore water within the days that adopted. However engineering points apart, how can we see God’s windfall in such a catastrophe? Maybe there are extra methods than we predict.

Residents Stepped Up

Through the disaster, Jacksonians stepped as much as the plate like by no means earlier than. The place an infrastructure failure of this magnitude may need economically derailed different cities, many Jackson eating places and different companies stayed open. Jackson’s entrepreneurs acquired an outpouring of assist and saved the native economic system working in opposition to all odds. One thing so simple as the power to eat at favourite native eating places supplied a way of normalcy. Native companies grew to become an anchor and morale booster for the group.

Sadly, a lot of the nationwide media protection across the water points doesn’t inform this a part of the story. However due to the best way my metropolis—my neighbors, my mates, my fellow church members—got here collectively to assist each other, I’ve by no means felt prouder to be from Jackson. The ingenuity proven by Jacksonians all through the disaster was a fantastic instance of the imago Dei. We’re inventive as a result of God is the Creator. We offer as a result of God is the Supplier.

The Church Stepped In

God’s Phrase tells us to hunt the welfare of the town the place he has despatched us into exile (Jer. 29:7). Whereas Jeremiah was initially writing to Jews in Babylonian captivity, I believe we are able to draw out a basic precept that God’s persons are to hunt the great of the jurisdictions by which he has positioned them. The church buildings of Jackson (a 2017 Barna report listed Jackson as some of the churched cities within the U.S.) have accomplished so in encouraging methods.

First Presbyterian Church, itself affected by the lack of water, instantly started amassing donations and distributing water to the group, handing out over 565 instances of bottled water. First Presbyterian found the town hadn’t been ready to reply to dozens of requests for water from shut-ins and was in a position to ship water to those that couldn’t get it on their very own.

Jerry Younger, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, president of the Nationwide Baptist Conference, and alumnus of Reformed Theological Seminary, has been a unifying determine all through the disaster. As one in every of Jackson’s most trusted spiritual leaders, Younger has known as for nationwide, state, and native officers in addition to residents to look previous political variations and work collectively to seek out options. New Hope, together with many different church buildings, has additionally been instantly concerned in efforts to distribute water.

Many companies and people are fleeing the issues of cities like Jackson, but it could take volumes to recount all of the methods native church buildings (to not point out church buildings from different cities and states) grew to become the “palms and ft of Jesus” and helped alleviate the consequences of the disaster.

Metropolis Sustained

In all my years residing right here, I’ve by no means seen my hometown within the press as a lot as I’ve in current months. Many of the consideration is for less-than-preferable causes. Crumbling infrastructure, crime statistics, and political squabbling are likely to dominate the Jackson information cycle. It may be disheartening and irritating, particularly coming from exterior sources that present and inform little or no of how God is at work within the historical past, honor, hope, and resilience of the individuals of Mississippi.

The individuals of Jackson—these of us who will have the ability to inform our kids and grandchildren concerning the time all of the pipes dried up—inform a distinct story: one in every of how the Lord supplies for and attracts close to to his individuals, even and particularly in occasions of disaster. The identical God who introduced water out of a rock within the Sinai Desert is ready to maintain us along with his presence as we speak in Jackson, Mississippi.