WATERS COVERED THE LAND | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: WATERS COVERED THE LAND | Previous Challenge Entry
By Maryolyn Payne
09/01/06
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AND WATERS COVERED THE LAND

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 124:8

In September 1967, an Atlantic storm turned into a furious woman named Hurricane Beulah. She packed punches of 160 mph at first and then diminished to 130 mph, making landfall just north of Brownsville Texas.

Because we live in Victoria, TX, to the north and eastern side of the eye, we naturally received more rain and tornadoes on that side of a hurricane. Taping windows and picking up all loose objects we left saying many prayers for the Lord’s protection for us and for our home and for all other people. We prayed for peace as hurricanes place lots of stress on people, even Christians.

After we had been in Hurricane Carla in 1960 and several between her and Beulah we felt the best thing to do was get out of Beulah’s way. Wrong! Those things are difficult to judge sometimes. They kept announcing on the news that people were relatively safe from tornadoes if they were one hundred and twenty five miles inland. Naturally, we were more concerned about the spawning of those ferocious funnels than even the wind from the hurricane. Little did we know and the weather reports were not totally true as we found out by going to New Braunsfel, TX.

We arrived there the day before the storm went inland. The people at the restaurant where we ate were really nice. They asked if we were from the coast and we said yes. They gave us a nice discount for our breakfast for two adults and our two young daughters. We were blessed to get a motel room. Sometimes you cannot find one anywhere.

That evening we went to another restaurant. Near darkness we came out and looked at the skies that had some of the nastiest looking black clouds I have seen. They were low clouds that appeared they were in pain as they rolled in turmoil. Later in the motel room we watched the news on TV and they reported a tornado one mile from where we stayed and some more spotted in the area. We slept little that night but vigilantly prayed.

By noon the following day we felt safe in going home, although the rain was still coming down in heavy sheets. By two we made it to Cuero and stopped for a hamburger. We made it out of Cuero when the highway was closed behind us. More prayers.

Coming closer to Victoria, we could not cross the Coleto Creek as it flowed furiously over the bridge. There we were stuck between the two. With two small children who were tired, cross and we were both exhausted it was not a welcome wait. Thank God for nice people. Some kind acquaintances came and saw we were stranded and asked us to their home. They lived close by. Many strangers took in other people. Just like Jesus would do!

After two hours we were told we could cautiously cross the creek at our own risk. More prayers. As we crossed the water was still high and swift enough to get into the floorboard. Except for the grace of God and if our heavy old Chrysler Saratoga, we might have been swept off the bridge.

Making it down to our last twelve miles we were almost home. That highway too was flooded heavily. We had to slowly creep to stay on the road. We made it into our drive to find we had several inches of water standing in our garage for the only time ever. All of south Texas looked like one huge river that was a hundred miles wide. We have never since seen all of the land so covered by heavy rain.

We felt very thankful to walk into our home where it was peaceful and quiet. Thanking God for keeping us safe, we snuggled into our nice dry beds. We knew our Heavenly Father had truly been our bridge over troubled waters.

Some people were not so blessed as there were fifty-eight people killed in Hurricane Beulah and lots of property damage, 217 million dollars worth. It seems in the past few years the hurricanes have increased in strength and last year Katrina was proof. It is even more reason to place our trust in our loving God who is more powerful than all storms put together. He truly is awesome, in more ways than one!!!

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