Where do you go when your world is turned upside down?
What do you do when almost everything is lost?
If you’re Jordan Baize, whose Mayfield, Kentucky, home was one of over 1,000 that turned into rubble by this past weekend’s storms, you head to a familiar place and send up praises to Almighty God.
“He has a beautiful piano that had been rained on for 12 hours and no one thought to play it,” Jordan’s sister, Whitney, said.
But in the distance, as Whitney gathered items she thought may be salvageable, she heard this most comforting sound emanating down the hall.
Wait, could that be the piano? she thought to herself.
“There’s Something About That Name,” a praise song by the Gaithers, was playing from a water-soaked, key-missing piano. But the melody was as sweet as ever.
“It didn’t take long for me to get cold chills when I heard it,” said Whitney, who quickly grabbed her phone and started recording (see post below). “It was probably the most beautiful sound I could’ve heard after such a tragedy.”
It was a song that embodied the peace somehow sustaining Jordan.
“His faith is so strong. He relies heavily on the Lord. God has always gotten him through,” Whitney said of her 34-year-old brother. “He had no idea I was filming it—you could just hear him having an organic moment worshipping God. I was right down the hall when he started playing and I just started crying.”
More than 80 people have died in Kentucky, with many more still missing. But that’s just the start of it.
From where Whitney sees it, Jordan is one of the lucky ones. Yes, his home was destroyed. His roof no longer there. But a few walls stood firm and he was able to salvage some personal belongings.
His neighbors were not as fortunate.
“There were others that just had a foundation left,” Whitney said. “The house is missing. Nothing left of their belongings.”
Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains are in Mayfield right now—as well as Northeast Arkansas—serving the communities alongside Samaritan’s Purse volunteers. And there are needs as far as the eye can see.
Perhaps the top prayer requests in Mayfield are for the people still in critical condition in the hospital. And the task of finding a roof over everyone’s heads on such bitter cold nights.
“For those who are displaced, the biggest request is that they would find a dwelling place—somewhere they can call home,” Whitney said. “There are so many friends of ours who are displaced. The number is almost too great to count.”
