Another Remembrance --OCT 18th

It is a very busy, but blessed weekend, lots of fruitful fellowship and company and communion season at our church. (Grandma, I will have to catch up with you another time, since I did not call you today...but I LOVE YOU!) But, I did not want the day to end without acknowleging the hand of God in another "remembrance" of His dealings with us. How many mercies we have daily! I am posting below an email my mother wrote recapping the events that happened a decade ago, today. I have taken out our immediate family's names as I usually do for privacy sake here on the blog. I hope each of you have a blessed weekend....
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Today is October 18th. 10 years ago today a tropical storm came over Brookshire Texas and brought (I think it was) 24 inches of rain in just a few hours. Our home, along with many others flooded. In the early morning hours while we slept flood waters filled our country piece of tranquility and surrounded our home with water. At around 4:15 a.m. our outside dog was heard howling and woke me up. As I took a flash light out the dining room window all I could see was water surrounding us like we were in the middle of a lake. The very large dog house that Jonathan and dad had made was floating with the dog chained to it. Pepper was drowning. Jim went into the flood waters to save our dog, not knowing he was putting his own life in serious danger. Our outside cats had crawled up underneath the house to get up out of the water but they would drown.

J and S were staying in our Airstream travel trailer several feet away from our home. When I looked out the window I could see water was already over the belly of the trailer and I was sure they had been electrocuted. The Airstream was made of aluminum and the electrical cord was laying on the ground plugged into an extension, which was now under water. My breath was instantly taken away and what I can remember most were the words "If thou hast taken my children away Lord, please prepare my heart". As I looked out at the darkness with the reflection of the water being slightly seen I felt the hand of God in His mercy over the waters and the fear left my heart. I picked up the phone to call J and S. JD was only a baby and was sleeping in a porta crib low to the floor of the trailer. J was pregnant with W. As the phone rang lights went on inside the trailer and I heard S's voice say "MamaMo, I walked in water o get to the phone and I am standing on a chair". "We are flooding S, get J and JD and come over here", was all I must have said. They carried JD and waded through the water to us. The same water where the extension cord was laying beneath. By this time Patti, Jonathan and I were trying to figure out how to keep the things inside of our home dry if water should come in and what to take if we left. We carried things upstairs, and threw some things into bags.

As we all prayerfully talked of what to do we futilely put pans from the kitchen under our furniture legs and laid dressers on top of the beds. I guess our thoughts were that only an inch or so of water might come in, when in reality just about everything would go under water. Jim, Jonathan and S secured several items outside and attempted to save vehicles. Jim's company car was already under water. All the while, little JD was eating cookies in his high chair totally unaware of what was going on. Jonathan was in his glory enjoying every minute; Jim and S were experiencing new floods of adrenalin every few minutes and the females were "busy, busy" too. The waters were rising very quickly and when it crested the door way, (which was already almost 3 feet above the ground) it was determined we had to leave. Each of us was escorted out one at a time by the men. Because of the force of the rapidly flowing water it was all I could do to hold onto S as he took me out, he really held me. The rapid, cold, deep and dark flood waters along with the rain soaked every inch of our clothing. I think each of us has their own memories of walking through those flood waters and how it felt. The chemically polluted, fire ant floating, snake infested, very cold, dark water is something that stays within in the memory.

We assisted our neighbors and watched as they held their new, little baby over their heads and fled their home as well. As we all got into the van the men realized they couldn't see where the road was. Lightening was flashing, thunder was screaming and they had to stand outside, one on each side of the road "feeling" their way with their feet. We were in the middle of a lake in the dark but got to the top of the road. As we were assessing things we discovered that little JD was still grasping his cookie tightly in his hand. Soaking wet and cold we gave thanks to God for our preservation and thankfully made it to my mothers apartment in a near by town. Jonathan was "on fire" for what was happening and the rest of us were still experiencing the goodness of the Lord in sparing us while being a little "in shock" I think. As we watched the television coverage of the flooding at my mother's it was decided that the men would go back and see what they could salvage. They managed to float a few items of clothing out in coolers but most everything was lost.

The months that followed could be a story all in themselves. However the Lord's sparing of our grandson, JD's life will always remain deep within my heart. He was sleeping only a few inches off the floor as the water was rapidly rising. If the Lord had not had our dog chained to his dog house and whimpering and whining enough to wake me up, I am convinced that JD would have drowned in the early morning hours without J and S even hearing him. Beyond that, there are so many tragic things that "could" have happened during those hours or the hours to follow. Jonathan was only 10 and was so involved with everything that he too could have become a tragedy with his electric energy and desire to be with and do just as the men.

As I have been typing this one of the things I have been thinking about is that all of the "outward" happenings of this life really have one purpose from the Lord our creator. His purpose is to tame and subdue the heart of man to His son Christ Jesus. The land, the weather and all the world are things man has been trying to tame and subdue to himself for all of time. But, the truth is that man may as well try to subdue the wind as his own heart apart from the grace that flows from the blood of Christ. I recently read that when the Lord takes something out of our left hand, we should grab hold of Christ more firmly with our right. That the trials, afflictions and difficulties are His gift to us to wean us from the world, sin and our own hearts. What a gift He gave us 10 years ago with so many treasures and jewels to be thought upon and meditated over again and again. Christ, it was all Christ, seen in every drop of the water, and every flash of lightening, and heard in the mighty roar of the thunder. Today, October 18th, 2008 as we gather with our friends for some target practice, the "roar" and "boom" of the guns are going to remind me of the treasures of October 18th, 1998. The Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever!