sobering times

We've been a little distracted the last few days. The clear blue sky and brilliant sunshine of today belied the devastating rains and flooding that hit Nashville and middle Tennessee over the weekend. During those two days more than 18 inches of rain fell in the areas hardest hit, and our own community collected about 13 inches. The cessation of rain last night didn't put an end to the flooding, where the Cumberland River crested this afternoon, and will bring additional flooding to communities downstream in the next day or two.

We are fortunate. Our own yard collected significant puddles, but no damage. The yards of neighbors became large pools, and runoff sped through yards and created brooks in the yards behind us.

The brook that runs along the edge of the church rose to the corner of a modular structure where our education rooms are housed, but we were spared any further excitement there. Across the street the entire field flooded and washed across the road, closing the street and the elementary school just down the block.

A client of Ken's had her driveway washed out (below), and a parishioner's home is isolated from the road by a huge pond of water that extends several hundred yards across and three times that distance in length. Four wheel drive has made escape possible through neighboring yards on higher ground and circuitous routes to roads that lead to life.

Pictures of Nashville and the flooding of area highways have appeared nationally, but to live between the pelting raindrops and reroute routine travels to avoid drowned fields and roads is an eerie and nearly surreal experience. Saturday we visited Opry Mills, a sprawling mall next door to the Grand Ol' Opry, and a day later the banks of the river at its edge had overflowed and flooded the mall, the Opry, and the Opryland Hotel.

Businesses that surround our town square (Sunday's post) are sweeping out and drying out, trying to salvage what they can to stay in business while rebuilding against what they have lost.

Life. Loss. Perseverance and resilience are trumping tragedy and catastrophe, and neighbors are shoring up and sharing the burdens shouldered by one another. It is a time to reflect, to dig deep, to pitch in. We are blessed, and we give thanks for what we have as others grieve their losses.

Pray for those whose lives have been turned upside down, or worse. We are giving thanks that it wasn't our day to be one of them.