In My Mind
It seemed the whole world ended just beyond our exit—
After Hurricane Helene ripped right through, and the raging river tore the road apart.
That’s how it felt in my mind anyway—with a huge piece of I-40 gone in an instant, leaving a gaping hole where a highway once had been.
Honestly, I hadn’t dared to travel west on that stretch of road since September of last year. When I-40 was closed for those tumultuous months post-Helene, our exit—Exit 15—was the last one and then, only open to local traffic.
So yesterday, when I’d agreed to meet my in-laws half-way to pick up our daughter Allie and her friend in Tennessee after a long weekend in Ohio, I prepared myself.
People had warned me…
Telling me what to expect—perhaps long delays and the reality of an altered landscape. Still, I knew seeing the results of Helene’s devastation for myself would be difficult, and a bit of anxiety stirred as I pulled off our rural country road and onto the highway.
My husband and I had just returned in the wee hours that morning from a quick trip to Colorado where we’d fulfilled an item on each of our bucket lists.
Mine was to see James Taylor in concert while Bill’s was to attend a concert in the Red Rocks’ amphitheatre outside Denver. Our two desires merged on Saturday, June 14th when Tiny Habits—an up-and-coming folk trio—opened for James Taylor as the sun set over Red Rocks Park.
I cried as the 77-year-old crooned, “In my mind, I’m going to Carolina…”and for several reasons.
One, this song has been a favorite since a girl in farmland Ohio, long before I ever dreamt I’d live near the East Coast.
But more, this melody took on whole new meaning when its singer / songwriter sang it—like a hymn—over a multitude of mourners after Helene ripped through North and South Carolina and other parts of the southeast in late September.
It was North Carolinian country star Luke Combs who had the idea for…
“Concert for Carolina.”
A benefit concert held in Charlotte on October 26th, it also featured fellow NC musicians Eric Church, Billy Stings, and…
James Taylor.
All proceeds aided victims of this horrific natural disaster which swept through on September 27th, leaving at least 107 people fatherless, motherless, childless, or widowed in NC alone.
So, after several hours of sleep, having fallen in bed around 2 AM, I was back in the car that morning—this time, headed beyond our exit which, as I mentioned, was a first in almost a year and as I traveled away from North Carolina toward Tennessee…
James Taylor still rang in my mind.
After several miles, I began to see them—the dump trucks and construction vehicles, not to mention, the bright orange signs warning travelers of the road work and closed lanes ahead.
And then, as that stretch of highway curved, I saw it for the first time—a section of road simply gone…
And I sucked in my breath.
It’s a miracle no one was initially killed when I-40 fell away last fall—plunging into the Pigeon River far below, and I whispered another prayer of thanksgiving as I merged left, with westbound’s right lane closed.
Then, feeling a swell of gratitude, I chose to listen to Keith Green, a favorite—though long-gone—Christian artist whose lyrics always lead me…
To worship.
At first, I was hoping to hear his version of “The Lord is My Shepherd (23rd Psalm),” as this was now playing in my mind as I continued along, thinking about the protective covering for the many who happened upon the hole where an interstate had been in early October 2024.
Story has it, one lone driver arrived in the nick of time, stopping the masses behind him—those traveling eastbound—from plunging to their deaths when the road washed away. I don’t even know the man’s name, but he was and is…
A hero.
When I asked Siri for this song, however, it wasn’t “available,” and she ironically responded with another—Keith Green’s “Don’t You Wish You Had the Answers,” which begins—"Look out the window, see the earth; where did it come from? Who gave it birth…?”
Ha. Timely, God, I thought, before—
“But why…?”
…Why the devastation of Hurricane Helene? Why the death of dear friend Renee’s brother who was swept away by the rushing waters of Jonathan Creek? Why the deaths of others—the loss of property, animals, and so much more?
God’s answer came in Keith Green’s lyrics—”Don’t you wish you had the answers? Well, I know… Don’t you just wonder what lies ahead? There’s peace in knowing what Jesus said….”
Aha. But what had Jesus said?
I pondered, then said aloud, “He promised, ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’” (John 16:33 NIV).
And, right then, that kind of settled it for me.
Funny. Although I thought I’d come up higher with regard to this line of questioning—the whys of this catastrophe—I suppose driving that stretch of highway sort of stirred it all back up, and…
I needed the reminder.
Just as the littles and I sang the day prior to Helene last September—a song my two grand-girls chose to listen to on the way home from preschool—“He’s got the whole world in His hands… He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands… He’s got the whole world in His hands.”
Yes.
Fear not—I have overcome the world.
Yes.
Yes.
Can’t you see the sunshine, can’t you just feel the moon-shine…?
Yes.
And on this sunny day, driving down the damaged section of I-40 toward a daughter who longed to be home in Carolina—this mother longing to have her home…
I smiled.
Taken after I’d picked Allie up in Jellico, TN—this time, headed eastbound.
“Thank you, James Taylor and Keith Green.”
Then I prayed—
Even with the ugliness the enemy desired for harm all around me, thank you, Father, for Your redemption. Yes, for Your Word which reminds us, even when we don’t know the answers, You hold everything in Your hands, and Your Son did come to save the world. This is a promise to hold in my heart and, yes…
