GATLINBURG, Tenn. — As wildfires burn through eastern Tennessee, leaving four people dead and forty-five more hospitalized, a small piece of hope was discovered by a worker who was cleaning up Dollywood theme park on Tuesday.
“I just found this while helping our House and Grounds team clean different areas of Dollywood Theme Park,” said Dollywood Human Resources Coordinator Isaac McCord in a Facebook post. “It was under a bench soaking wet. Talk about goosebumps.”
The discovery, which was a burned page of the Bible, revealed an exert from the first and second chapters of Joel:
Joel 1:15
The day of the LORD is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!Joel 1:19
To you, LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.Joel 1:20
Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.Joel 2:1
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand
McCord then showed the burned page to another employee, who was equally astonished, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel .
“We were like this is unreal, this is unbelievable,” he said. “When we had both fully read it, we looked at each other — and I will never forget this moment — we both burst into tears. I was ghost white, and we just prayed. There was nothing else to do.”
McCord said the moment is one he’ll remember for the rest of his life.
In 22 hours, the post has 72,000 shares and 31,000 likes.