A cowboy in the Kentucky floods

By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross

(This is a story of how the Cowboys of the Cross mission interacts with the rodeo and cowboy crowd. A monthly newsletter is sent to anyone interested in learning more about the ministry or seeing how God uses their funding and prayers.)

When it was safe to go back home, Rusty found his gear still in the trailer he rented. Most of his possessions were ruined and he had to dig his bull riding equipment out from under about a foot of mud.

He took his clothes to a nearby creek where he washed them out and took what he had to his mom's place further back in the hollow that wasn't affected by the floods. That's where he's laying his head for now until he sorts out what to do next. When we spoke last Saturday at a bull riding in Tennessee, you would have had no idea anything had happened.

His workplace is near Whitesburg, KY, one of the hardest hit areas, wasn't affected. It wasn't until Rusty was done operating his bulldozer at a surface mine at three o'clock that afternoon that he found out about the flooding that affected thousands of people and left at least 37 people dead. At the writing of this, more than a week later they are still trying to account for everyone and get to everyone with many roads still washed out and people cut off from power and electricity.

I've been able to attend events several times in these Appalachian coal towns. Many of them are literally carved out of the mountains or in hollows, as they are referred to, like bowls in the middle of the mountain ranges. This unprecedented flooding filled many of those bowls with surging rainwater from area creeks and rivers reaching places flood waters had never reached before.

Whitesburg is about three hours from where I live near Gatlinburg, TN but many of the areas affected are only a couple hours away. Historically poor, if you take a scenic back route, you will get the impression sometimes that you're going through places where you expect to hear "you ain't from around here."

Last summer, I played tourist at Harlan, KY on a back way to do cowboy church at a rodeo in Virginia. It's a community that was central to a television show I liked and while I was taking pictures in the middle of the afternoon in the mostly closed-up main street, a woman came out from one of the few shops that were still open and demanded to know what I was doing.

Many of the towns are a husk of what they once were when the coal industry was thriving but they are still beautiful places away from traditional tourist routes and I love visiting them.

They may be guarded but when you get past that, these are some of the nicest people you are ever going to meet.

Rusty is one of those.

We first really met at the practice pen I get to do cowboy church at some Sundays. From day one, he always made a point of speaking when he saw me and as he has got to know me over the last few years, will also ask questions about circumstances he knows are going on in my own life.

He keeps a positive attitude, asked for prayer at cowboy church for the people affected by the flooding and focused on the bull riding. You wouldn't have otherwise known Rusty had just been through a flood big enough to have the federal government declare his home part of a national disaster area.

Considering he lost most of his belongings, when asked what he needed, Rusty kindly said he was fine and didn't need anything.

So much of the country has turned its back on coal but at the same time, the country has turned its backs on one of the poorest parts of the nation. But having spent some time in those parts, I honestly think most of them don't mind being left alone.

Just like Rusty has said he doesn't need anything, it isn't coming from pride but from a sense of self-reliance, which is how the Appalachian people have always lived since before there were even coal mines.