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2007

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26th June
Waterlogged

11th June
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Waterlogged
26^th June 

You may have noticed the rain. You may have noticed the floods. The song which is circling around my head at the moment is, ‘the wise man built his house upon the rock’. The chorus of ‘the rains came down and the floods came up’ seems particularly applicable this week. As I type this Agbrigg Road, the road off which I live, is flooded and closed. There are houses a few doors down who have water up to their letterboxes. A friend in Sheffield had to abandon their car in the middle of the road yesterday as the waters came up too quickly for her to drive away. It seems everyone is getting wet.

 Yesterday I took my dog for a walk at a nearby colliery. It’s not an actual working coal mine anymore, but a beautiful nature reserve made up of lovely walks, some tranquil lakes and a canal. At least that’s what it looks like when the sun shines. Yesterday it wasn’t quite so picturesque. Toby and I walked into the area at about 4pm, getting soaked in the pouring rain and splashing in the puddles. One of the things we love about walking there is the variety of paths and points of access to the colliery – you don’t ever have to walk the same way twice. As usual we decided (well I decided – Toby’s a dog and is not responsible in the decision making process!) to leave by a different route, but as we approached it we found it to be impassable due to flooding. Annoying but not a problem we turned to go another way and found that this too was flooded. In fact every way we turned was now covered in water and we could not get through. It seems that since we had entered the reserve one of the lakes had burst it’s banks and was now flowing over the paths into the already overflowing canal. The water was moving at an incredible pace and with such force that I was scared to try and cross the newly formed river. I started to panic.

 I didn’t really know what to do as I had left my mobile at home (it would only have got wet and who would I need to call in the middle of a raining dog walking session?? The emergency services it would seem!) and I had a wet and bedraggled dog in tow. After trying another couple of potential routes, all of which were impassable, I chose which looked like the driest course or at any rate the one least likely to result in Toby and I swimming in the canal. We slowly waded through the still rising water and made it to the other side safely with squelching feet and water in my wellies to take home. Suddenly the puddle splashing had become a lot less fun. 

As I sit here in my dry house it would be easy for me to write about how God is always there for us through the wettest storms. I could theorise on how if we build our lives on the rock of Jesus that the rains may indeed come but our houses will in fact stay firm. But when I look out of my window at the dark rain clouds gathering for the next onslaught, when I walk down my street and see people who’s homes are ruined, when I listen to the news and hear about the fatalities from this little thing called rain, it becomes just a bit harder to be dismissive. And maybe that’s the point.

 When we are in the midst of our storms, be they personal storms or of the real weather variety, we are consumed by what is going on to us. As I was stranded in the colliery I wasn’t thinking about the plight of others. I didn’t at that moment care that people had it a lot worse than me or that it was perhaps my own stupidity that got me into the situation. All I cared about was getting to safety. All I cared about was my own life (and Toby’s) and my own situation. I am pretty sure that the people down the road aren’t worried about the anyone else in other storms as they watch their furniture float down the street. They are caught up in their own situation, their own lives, their own storms.

When we are in the midst of our storms, be they personal storms or of the real weather variety, words aren’t always very useful. Being told the reasons for the problems doesn’t help, or offering advice on how to rectify it isn’t what is needed. What I needed yesterday was practical help getting unstuck. What those down the road and across the country need is practical help getting their things together, finding a place to stay, some dry clothes and warm food. What those in other storms need is a friend, a comfort, and possibly some practical support.

 Yes Jesus is the rock upon whom we should build our lives. Yes he will stand firm when our lives experience storms. But as Christians we should perhaps not stand on the sidelines and declare this fact, but we should grab our wellies and join the storms of our friends and neighbours. After all that’s where Jesus would be.

 Oh and perhaps we should start getting in the animals two by two – just a thought!