Pensamientos para hoy (afterthought for today)
too much rain
The rain storms that we've been having lately remind me of the time we went on vacation in the middle of a typhoon. If you have ever been in a hurricane then you know what a typhoon is like. The difference is that hurricanes typically come and go the same day--sometimes in a matter of hours. Typhoons, on the other hand, can linger in the same location for days. Well this particular typhoon that hit the Philippines' northern island of Luzon in 1993 had been in the area for over a week. Rivers were flooded, and roads were being blocked from mud slides. I remember planning the trip to Baguio (a city high in the mountains) with a fellow missionary who had grown up in Indonesia and was on his second four year term in the Philippines. He never hinted that this trip could be dangerous. He told me that the land slide that had buried parts of the main highway to Baguio was no big problem because we could take the Marcos Highway (which was still being repaired after being damaged by a huge earthquake several years earlier). My friend assured me that this road was still usable. The first hint that we might have trouble was when we came to a river where the water was rushing over the bridge. I watched as a car slowly drove through the water and arrived safely on the other side. I was driving a small Toyota. My wife Kathy and I and two boys and a new born (Lisa) and another missionary couple was with us in the five passenger car; so it was rather cramped. Anyway, I figured that if the other car could make it across the bridge so could we, and we did. We passed another similarly flooded bridge then decided to stop at the MacDonald's in Tarlac City. The MacDonald's was open but they were piling up sand bags because the river was rising and they expected to be flooded. "We better keep going and get out of town before we get stuck in a flood," I said as we watched the roaring river rage against its banks. So we headed out of Tarlac just in time. We finally made it to Marcos Highway (the one that was damaged by the earth quake). About half way up the mountain the road disappeared, and we seemed to be driving in a river. Everyone in the car thought we were lost until we finally saw a truck and followed it until we could see the road again. Then we came to a place in the highway where the outside lane had literally fallen into a deep ravine. Only one lane of traffic was getting by. The side of the mountain went straight down for hundreds of feet. I can say that I was praying hard as we slowly inched our way past the washout and could look down into the ravine below. We eventually made it to Baguio, and I was very relieved and grateful that God had protected us. I had had no idea how risky driving in a typhoon could be, and I decided I'd never do it again, and I never will. Maybe God has allowed you to drive into a storm. Maybe you see the waters rising. You try piling up sand bags to keep the water out, but no matter what you do, you keep getting deeper and deeper in the muck and mud. Maybe you can't even see the road ahead. If this is how you feel, then know that God can help you out of this storm. You may have to navigate a rough spot in the road and it may seem like you're dangerously close to falling off the cliff, but you can pray and trust God to help you make it past the danger. Eventually you will make it safely to where you want to go. Once you get past this storm, you need to pray and ask God to help you never to make the same mistake again. With God's help we won't make the same mistake twice. Your fellow traveler, Pastor Steve
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