Calling For a Flood

If you live in Iowa, it would be hard not to realize we are now in the midst of what they are calling, "The Floods of 2010". Not very clever, I know, but, it seems as though giving a name to something makes it feel real. In July, when everyone kept expressing their fears of this summer mimicking "The Floods of '08", I was relaxed. "Oh, if it were going to happen, it would have happened already."

Wrong.

I tend to have a "come what may" attitude when it comes to natural disasters. I have no idea why, but in this one thing, I know that I cannot control it and find myself peaceful and calm when the time comes. My senior year of high school, we had 70 mph straight-line winds tear through our neighborhood, ripping up trees, cutting our power, moving a couple of mobile homes, and removing several roofs. I can vividly remember my parents and my brother crowded around our front door and windows, waiting for the sirens to go off to tell us we should move to the cellar. All I knew was that it was late, and I was tired, so I headed to bed and told them to wake me if they went down. 

When our apartment in Ames flooded (the complex, not our actual unit) and I had to wade out through waist-deep waters at times to get out, I just laughed and told my husband not to worry about it. Now, with the flooding in Ames and central Iowa and the water sanitation problems (Ames residents are under a "boil water advisory"), there is a lot going on--a lot of individual and community sorrow and heartache. Many people's homes and businesses have been damaged. My husband's cousin had a girl in their small group who passed away yesterday morning. Several cars got swept away when trying to drive through a flooded area, and she drowned. She was only sixteen. 

In comparison to all of that, it is rather crazy to see grocery stores completely sold out of bottled water because people are buying 42 crates of it to add to their stockpile. When people see trouble on the horizon, they often react in fear, expecting the worst. Yes, things can get bad, but I think the key is to keep things in perspective. God is in control. Do you really believe that?

God is in control. For some reason, when disaster comes, God has given me this gift of faith so far. I think what I need to learn is to have faith in him when the car breaks down. Or the deadline comes. Or unexpected guests are coming and my house is not clean. :) I need to let God be in control, too. Maybe the unexpected He brings into my life will be better than any expected thing I might want. At the very least, I will count the blessings He has given me:  another day of life, clean water to drink, a dry place to lay my head, and a Father who is always working things out for my good.

P.S. Here is some raw footage from whotv.com of the flooding in Ames, in case you haven't seen it already.