Waterlogged

I drove under an overpass on the highway this morning thinking about what it would have felt like if I had tried it last night. Of course I couldn’t have tried it last night because that same underpass had 12 feet of water flowing through it from the torrential rains and floods that hit Central Texas. I was one of the lucky ones. Simply forced to change my travel plans and stay another night in the place where I have family and friends. An unexpected unplanned slumber party with loved ones, nothing to complain about there.

This morning as I hit the road early I was astonished at the number of 18-wheelers and passenger vehicles parked along the side of the road in both directions. Not something you usually see on IH-35. But then this particular storm wasn’t something we’d seen before either. Yes, in the last 12 months parts of the state have been hit by devastating rains and floods, but it is not usual that sections of an interstate highway be shut down for hours due to standing water. An amazing sight to behold.

The forces of nature are beyond our power even with all of our technology. We all know that predictive technology can be helpful. But the weather man’s job is still and always the best ever – say what you think is going to happen but you get to keep your job if it doesn’t turn out that way.

As a believer, I wonder sometimes why God allows these things to happen. The Bible tells us His ways are not our ways nor His thoughts our thoughts. We don’t get to know the Why behind tornadoes, hurricanes or floods. We only get to know that they happen; it is our choice whether to believe in the One who allows it. In the meantime there is loss and devastation and disappointment and death. Those things are part of life, part of the human condition. But they don’t have to define who we are. What we believe is a choice, one that should not be forced upon us by brainwashing or indoctrination but one that we get to freely make based on a plethora of information available to anyone who has a keyboard and an Internet connection or access to a good library. We all have access to the Good Book. That’s where the ultimate truth is and the Author of it is the One in whom I place my trust, in and out of disaster. I pray it is so for you.

After passing freely through the underpass now completely empty of any water, I sailed smoothly on IH-35 for several miles only to be brought to a dead standstill at the next town. This too is life – especially on IH-35, even early on a Saturday morning. But no matter; it gives me time to blog and pray, to thank God that He has let me live for another day and to remember to make the most of this next 24 hours.