Hurricane Elsa 2021

 

[1]

Psalm 20:1

Good News Translation

May the Lord answer you when you are in trouble!
    May the God of Jacob protect you!

 

This past summer we had an appointment at the Uchee Pines Lifestyle Center. We spent the week before our appointment visiting relatives in Florida—something we don’t get to do very often. While in central Florida we watched the development of Hurricane Elsa in the Atlantic. It moved steadily west and finally crossed the southern end of Florida. That slowed it down, and it degenerated into a tropical storm. But once it was over the Caribbean, it picked up extra energy and then whirled around like a snake and came back at us, like a vicious adder, to strike the northern part of Florida.

During the actual time it stuck, we had to drive through that northern part of Florida in order to get to our appointments on time. It had rained every day while we were in Florida, but that was simply kids’ play, compared to Elsa.

As we headed north that day, we prayed that the Lord would protect us in the storm. The wind was fierce and buffeted us relentlessly for four hours. It rained and poured as we groped our way north across the heart of the storm.

We have a cap on the back of our Ford pickup where we had a bed ready made for us to simply climb in and go to sleep. Driven by the wind, the rain came in around the edges of the cap and soaked the edges of our mattress and sleeping bags.

But the God of Jacob indeed protected us. Nothing we had was really damaged. We experienced no accident while driving up the freeway with its hurrying cars and trucks, some passing us or we passing them.

Finally, well into Georgia we stopped at a restaurant for some dinner. It was still pouring down rain. They were out of most of the items on their menu. We were served something and started to eat. Sylvia noticed water pouring down an inside wall of the restaurant. I said, “Don’t tell them, or they’ll drive us out!” Then the electricity went out. Probably the rain had short circuited the electricity. We finished the first part of our order. They couldn’t finish the other part because of the power outage.

The manager suddenly panicked at the developments. She phoned the owner who demanded that we evacuate the restaurant in case the flat roof caved in. She told us to leave. When I offered to pay her, she calmed down and told us they couldn’t charge us for all this. We left in haste, thanking the God of Jacob for His intervention.

We found a cozy motel in Cordele, Georgia, and spent a dry night with thanksgiving. Although Elsa had wet our bed in the back of the pickup, it dried out reasonably quickly within the next few days.

Thank You, God of Jacob, for protecting us from the storm and the hazards of freeway driving in it.

 

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[1] https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2021/07/05/tropical-storm-watches-extended-from-bay-area-northward  You can see the outline of Florida in white across the $1.2 billion damage hurricane Elsa. We drove across the main diameter of the storm in a northwesterly direction, from central Florida into Georgia.

Old Age

Titus 2:2

King James Version (KJV)

² The aged men [are to] be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Seventy-five years have gone by since I was ripped out of my mother’s womb. In my youth my parents had a lot to be proud of and a lot to be disappointed over. I have pushed the limits in most things that came my way. In some directions, pushing the limits has been both exciting and rewarding. At other times it has been embarrassing and even on occasion expensive.

I purchased a Ford F150 4x4 pickup that I don’t need on a daily basis in my line of work. It averages 12 miles per gallon of gasoline, which makes it the most expensive vehicle I’ve ever owned.

It has taken me through hundreds of miles of raw desert, both beautiful and ugly. It has brought home a trailer load of my daughter’s belongings from Kansas down a thousand miles of glare ice and falling snow. Numerous times it has taken me across the Rocky Mountains on sand, dirt, and rocky trails sometimes barely visible. I have confidently challenged roads and trails from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It uncomplainingly sports thousands of scratches running from the front grill to the tail gate from desert thorn bushes crowding the tracks.

Sylvia, my faithful life partner, loves adventure as much as I and has supported and accompanied me in our varied experiences. We installed a cap over the pickup bed, and on long trips we put a mattress back there. This allows us to sleep almost anywhere we can find a spot to pull over, including Walmart parking lots. We have slept—or sometimes tried to sleep—in our F-150 during fierce, tornado-alley rainstorms, desert heat, and mountain frost and have actually done very well for ourselves.

In many ways our experience with the F-150 parallels what God has put up with in my life. He has supported me through near death from West Nile Virus and on Los Angeles freeways. He has rejoiced with me in celebrations like children’s weddings and graduations and commiserated with me through loss of many friends and the death of my parents. Like the Ford, He has given us of the beauties and bounties of life and walked with us during poverty, scarcity, and sickness. 

Lord, as old age embraces us ever more firmly, continue to support us, and renew our faith, love, and patience.

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