Floody, Muddy

On a bright and beautiful Easter afternoon, 1979, we were out motorboating - in our neighborhood. Down the main road we went, turned left at the deep end of our street, and docked on the front porch. We didn't drop anchor, just tied up to the lamp fixture. The storms had passed, but the waters were still rising. Our family of four had "abandoned ship" - house - early Saturday A.M. All I had been able to pack were our Easter clothes, baskets, and candy. With children ages 5 and 11 the Bunny still had to "hop down the Easter trail" come heck or high water; our little one had worried about how he was going to find her in a motel.

As my husband and a friend now waded in chest deep to retrieve some much needed clothing, and things on high shelves that might still be dry, I sat in the boat and watched my wingback chair make two "laps" around the living room in a circular current that had set up. There was a very delicate mold culture about 10 inches high growing up off the arm; since the chair was covered in linen I'd spent close to a year embroidering, this was not a happy sight. For six days practically everything we owned marinated in the muddy waters of the Pearl River. Before it began to recede the water level inside would reach five and a half feet; outside it lapped the eaves at its crest. For those who like "total immersion" our house could be considered completely "baptized." For us this 500 year flood and its aftermath were a baptism in reality - a test of courage and faith. But there were many who sustained us. Not only our church family, but all the churches in the area "rose" to the occasion magnificently with hot meals, child care, and support groups. It took 6 months to rebuild and longer, of course, to refurnish. For many, this kind of stress was more than their marriages could take - seven or more divorces on our street alone. Thousands of homes and families suffered. When the ill tides of life come flooding in, those who have not built there home on "Rock" cannot stand. When almost everything you own must be thrown in the street, including your walls, it is also a marvelous exercise in divesting yourself of the material. But our home was built back, better than before, with many improvements. And thanks to God's sustaining grace, we, too, were, perhaps, a new, improved version.

Genesis 6.19 - The waters rose and swelled greatly on the earth.

Proverbs 10.25 - Disaster strikes like a cyclone, but the good man has a strong anchor.

Isaiah 30.20 - Though he give you the bread of adversity and water of affliction, yet he will be with you to teach you.

Zechariah 8.13 - Don't be afraid or discouraged! Get on with rebuilding.

Psalm 66.12 - We went through fire and flood, but now you have brought us to a place of safety.

Matthew 7.24-25 - Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock.

Song of Solomon 8.7 - Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.