Let's Go Down To The River

Day 359 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I journeyed down to the riverfront this evening taking part in the "Live On Broadway" festivities. This is the local free, live entertainment outlet that me and some friends use to frequent to evangelize, pass out tracts and talk to others about Christ. We haven't done this in a while, so this was actually the first time I have attended in a while, maybe once or twice in the time span between is not going as a group. I had to avert my eyes several times, to say the least. To be a "good clean fun" place to go, advertised as "family fun" it was not very clean and not very family friendly. I did pass out a few tracts and listened to a gospel group too that were very good.

My pictures is on the river side of the flood wall and if you read any of my postings during the flood you know how high the water got. This picture shows you the levels embedded into the concrete wall. It is really neat to see the different spacing between levels, which I assume is reflective of the quickness of the water rising or falling. Anyway it got really high and would have been up to my chest whee I was standing taking this picture.

I actually had a single purpose in going down this evening as a brother and sister from church's son was playing at one of the locations along Broadway. I wanted to show support of this young brother and let him know that he had some fans from church. He is a very good guitarist and I was impressed. It made me want to take up trying to play the guitar again, something I tried when I was in my teenage years. I quickly became frustrated as it is a lot harder than it looks, having to put your fingers in certain places all the time and stuff to make it sound right . So, I am always very impressed with giftings of playing musical instruments, especially the guitar.

This young man happens to have also just surrendered his life to music ministry, wherever that takes Him. I really need to pray for this young man often as God works in his life, that He will place people in his path to guide him in honoring God through his music.

I also have to make a confession. Somehow I got off on my blog day numbers, so I have started changing all of the past "Day In My Life" days. I thought I was being careful, but apparently I wasn't and I noticed tonight when I started typing. Since it is within of my birthday no I knew that if I wrote until my birthday this year it would actually be 366 days. I messed up and I wanted to publicly confess I made a mistake.

After The Flood

Day 326 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

My brother, his wife and his son came in for a few days from their home in Chattanooga. They came mostly to help our mom with getting cleaned up from the flooding. I must say my brother, nephew, our mom and my niece did an excellent job today and got everything taken out of the flooded room at my moms. They worked very hard to accomplish what they did today.

I had to work but went out when I got off. I was asked to bring my truck to get a lot of my NASCAR collectables that were stored in her room that flooded. I knew that some were going to be damaged, but did not know to what extent. Let's just say that most were and that not much will be salvageable as collectables any longer. If I had somewhere to display them I could clean the cars off, but the packaging is ruined, which makes them a lot less desirable. Actually it did make me feel dejected when first seeing the loss, but I started putting it into perspective. They are only diecast cars and other items, not someones home or family heirlooms. If I wanted to I could replace every last piece that was damaged, unlike the families that have lost much more. I then thought about the people of Joplin Missouri who were struck by a F5 tornado yesterday, nearly 120 lives were lost. My attitude has really changed about the cars that were flooded. It's not like I was doing anything with them anyway and also not like I should have gotten them out from under my moms nose long ago as well.

The picture is of the stripped room that was flooded. There is still a lot of work to be done. I sprayed the whole room with bleach water to kill the mold and any other germs that may have taken home in there. The walls will have to be stripped, the flooring will have to be smoothed out, the insulation replaced and all new walls and floor put in. It is no small task, but it will get done. That is much more than a collection of memorabilia, so another perspective eye opener. A rather large pile of my moms "stuff" lies on the other side of her road awaiting picked up by whoever the government contracts to pick it up. Some things will not be able to be replaced, some she will not want to replace and some should have been tossed years ago.

I do know that my mom needs prayer through this. She is feeling the effects of the stress and likes to get kind of antsy in her speech sometimes. Anxious is the word that come to mind with a bit of pride thrown in. So, please pray that she calms down and actually sees God through this. Pray that God puts people in her path and in her life that will show the love of Christ and help her in ways she never expected. Pray that she will see her need for an actual relationship with Christ above anything she has ever thought about. Just pray for her and those that are placed in her life in this time frame, including me and the rest of the family.

Flooded Ground Ready For Tilling

Day 325 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

This picture is becoming an all too familiar scene. Piles of belongings, now only good to fill land fill space sitting outside of homes and along roadways. The Flood of 2011 has devastated this area, that is for sure. The flood has destroyed homes, made many hardships for families, displaced many families and is constantly racking up the costs as repair efforts continue.

There are, however, many bright spots beneath the mud caked houses. Our church has become a haven for those in one of the hardest hit locations of McCracken County to pick up supplies, have dinner on us and just talk. That's all a lot of people want to do, talk things through as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives and carry on. I would say that the majority are lost and do not know God. I say this because most people that do profess Christ do not know God. Oak Grove Baptist Church is doing what it should, just being there to listen, giving a meek meal to the hungry and wore out folks and most importantly showing the love of Christ to those in need. Is it taking advantage of an opportunity? Sure, and shouldn't any opportunity be used in this way? To show Christ to those that may never see Him otherwise? This is not saying that we are hammering them with the Bible over their heads or getting them to sign membership cards, we are simply showing the love to them that Christ overflows from us.

Maybe it will take a flood or some other condition of this magnitude to see Christ. I say it is worth it then if people see God in the midst of this type of catastrophe. Of course most, if not all, of the folks will never come back to the church again after the meals stop. We are fine with that, as our goal is not church attendance. Our goal is to see Jesus magnified and to show love to a hurting people. That has been and is still being accomplished. Sowing seeds of love in hearts that may be stoney now, but with a little cultivating will readily accept, all in God's timing. Our mission field became a lot closer to home over the past few weeks.

Cleaning Up The Mess

Day 321 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Picked up 2 cleaning kits for my mom today given out by the Red Cross. The kits contain a mop, broom, bleach, a cleaner and a nice Red Cross bucket. I think it is a great thing that they make these available to those in need. I'm not really sure who pays for these, but it is definitely a good thing.

My church, Oak Grove Baptist Church, is a pickup point for these in the Paducah are. If you are in need of cleaning supplies then please stop by and get what you need. There are also extra jugs of bleach and Pine-Sol, gloves, Tyvek suits, bottled water and other various items that have been donated to those affected by the flooding. I do recommend stopping by between 4:00-6:00 so you can get a filled belly as well. Dinner is being furnished by the church, with help from the members of OGBC. There have been a few local businesses that have donated either cleaning supplies or food items. For all of those that have give I send out a big THANK YOU!

This is exactly what a community needs to do in times like this. We pull together and help each other out, do what we can and then leave the outcomes to God. He will direct what we do if we allow Him to guide. It is actually fairly simple to know what to do in situations like this as all you have to do is look around for someone working in a flood impacted area and offer to help. You can also pray for those affected by the flood and those that are giving their time, money and efforts into helping each other out. Many people have the potential to see God through this disaster. Actually I like to call it an opportunity instead of a disaster.

May the Lord direct you in what you should be doing through this. One thing is for sure, you shouldn't be doing nothing.

Going, Going, Almost Gone

Day 320 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I guess the flood of 2011 is "officially" over, as far as the Ohio River goes. The City of Paducah removed all but 3 of the flood gates today. You can see by my 2 pictures today that the highest point that the water achieved was really high. I have a screen capture from when the workers were removing the flood gates from this location and had a dump truck parked in frame. I can transpose one picture of another and by doing that it showed that the dump truck would have been covered with water.

I think I will venture down to the flood wall soon to see the water mark and see for myself exactly how height the waters reached. I just know that I'm glad the river has given up its grip and many people can now try to rebuild their homes as well as their lives. One hindrance to that here is that FEMA has not granted individual assistance for McCracken Count Kentucky, nor any other county in Kentucky that I know of. Parts of Tennessee, Mississippiand Missouri down river have been granted individual assistance and help from FEMA, but not our immediate area yet. I rally hope it is soon, partially for selfish reasons as my mother needs to get her house repaired. We have no idea the extent of water damage yet under the floor. We do know that it was under her house for a few days and soaked into the floor in some areas which still had particle board as the sub-flooring. Throughout the other part of her house she had just had new flooring put down, including plywood and not particle board. But the floor joists may be damaged and that does not even mention the mold issues that may be flourishing around the house and in her storage room.

I do know that everything is in the Lord's hands and He will do what is right and what is good. This may not always be what we think is right and good, may be painful, but He has promised to always sustain us. This is a large trial for my mom ans she has been through several in the past few years. I do ask you to pray for her, that she will see God in this and not be focused on herself. Pray that FEMA steps in and does what they did in 1997, when the waters were nowhere near as high as they were this time. I love my mom and I don't like to see her as frazzled as she has been since being displaced. What she needs now is God and I know that He will be there if she turns to Him.

Dirty, Grimy, Stinkin' Wretch

Day 319 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Today was the first day in almost a month that I have been able to drive to my mom's house. If you've been keeping up on this blog you know that we have had a lot of flooding in these here parts lately. The waters have really fallen and fallen quickly.

What is left behind is a layer of silt, muck, dead fish and stench. The ground is covered with a greyish-brown dried mud that the receding river water left behind. But at least the waters are gone and now the hard work can begin. Another positive step was that the electricity was turned back on at her house today. The only question they asked was, "Did the water get into the meter base?" Which was a definite "No". Also, thankfully the water did not reach into the house, except her storage room, which also has some mud left behind. The paneling also absorbed the water and buckled and my NASCAR collection that was in boxes down there is probably about 1/3 less now because of the water. I wonder if FEMA will buy it from me now.

Thankfully through this flooding I have not heard of any loss of life. Everyone seems to have heeded the rising waters. I was thinking about that the other day, how people could see the water rising and that danger was eminent. I thought about sin and how most of the time people try to avoid it, but wait until it has either invaded their home or just sandbagged a layer or two, but the flood of sin was a lot more powerful than they anticipated. They are then left with the silt of the sin after it finally leaves their dwelling place, if at all. The stench is left behind and it appears to be chaos all around. Nothing is the same any longer and sin has done its destruction. The good news is that God will not only step in and clean you up, He will clean you off, shower you, your surroundings and then throw that sin into the depths of the oceans. We are so mired in our sins though, so much that we hold onto their memories. This, even though, the Lord has already taken care of them, even before you were born, even before the foundations of the world. How wonderful is that? God took care of our needs before we knew we had need. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. I am amazed at His love for me, even though I continually not only see the flood of sin heading my way, I often times run out into the waters and soak in them. I am a wretch to the core without God and only by Him am I worthy of anything. What an awesome God we serve!

Flooding Our Minds With God

Day 316 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

My picture today is from the City of Paducah's Flood Wall cam. This cam has been up since the day after they installed the flood wall gates to keep the Ohio River out of the city. I actually contacted to city and suggested they do this, so that everyone around here (and across the world) could check in from time to time and see how high the river has gotten.

The river is on the downswing right now. You can see the water line on the flood gate in the mid-right portion of the picture. If not for these flood gates and this flood wall, the city would have been inundated with about 4 feet of water or more. The flood wall was actually an action after the 1937 flood that did much damage to Paducah and other cities along the Ohio River and Mississippi River.

At this time the flood waters are receding here, but down south they are rising. The Corps of Engineers are about to open a levee system in Louisiana to relieve flood waters. The thing is, it's going to flood a whole community with over 15' of water. These folks are frantically packing up anything and everything they can to save from the waters. It is a "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" type of thing. Similar to what they did at Birdspoint to relieve the waters beginning in Cairo Illinois, but also relieving the flood depth here and up river from us in places like Ledbetter and Smithland. That action alone is what spared my mom's house from being flooded throughout. The predictions were for the river to crest 3' higher than it did, before they blew the Birdspoint Levee. I thank God that they did for those around here, but still felt sorry for those that lost their homes in that man made levee breach.

One thing we can all learn from this, is that God does what He wants, when He wants. The rivers rise and fall at His commands. The rain falls when He tells it to and falls on the heads of the just and the unjust. Only us humans defile God and do what we want. Paul may be the chief of sinners, but I am not far behind him. I am so wretched sometimes, well, a lot of the times. I have many sins that plague me that I can't seem to shake. Some things left me early in my conversion, but others linger on to wreak havoc to my walk. I put these sin barriers between God and me, which is all a fabrication in my mind. I know the bible says that He casts our sins into the depths of the ocean, as far as the East is from the West, but my mind forgets that when I fall into my sin. I want to wallow in it and think of the wedge that I am driving, but it doesn't do that. It is actually selfishness that brings those thoughts, feelings of what I need to do to fix this. Fact is I can't fix anything. Why? Because Christ already has fixed it. My sins were already forgiven before I thought of them. Not that I have a ticket to sin, but I have a mighty God that is not like us and is able to see us through Christ instead of seeing us as we see ourselves when we know we have messed up yet again.

How great is our God! May we all be able to flow like the rivers and go where He commands without questioning that.

Ladies And Gentlemen - The Water Has Left The Building

Day 315 in my “Year In My Life Through Pictures” blog series
(I have been trying to sign in to blogger to post this for a while now. It is now 11:00 and it doesn’t look like I will be able to post it on the actual day 314, but it is because of the blog website. I guess it had to happen sooner or later)


I took my mom back to her house today by boat, possibly for the last time by boat too. The water has receded away from her house leaving an eerie brown coating over the ground. She said that it reminded her of pictures she has seen of disasters like Chernobyl and volcanic eruptions. The brown covering from the muddy waters of the Ohio River did make things look drastically different.

One thing we did talk about was the chance for rain over the next few days. Thankfully it is not a lot of rain forecast and I even told her it would be good to get rain right now in order to wash the silt from all that is covering. It would take a lot of raining again to raise the waters again, so the “little” bit that they are forecasting will be welcomed by me.

The flood waters did not make it into the main part of her house, but did do some damage in a converted garage are that was made into a storage room before she bought the house. That room was also housing the bulk of a NASCAR diecast and memorabilia collection that I had amassed over a few years time. Actually I am little sorry that it was damaged, but in all truthfulness I am not that upset about it. I am much more focused on her getting her home back into a livable state and getting back into her routine. Hopefully I will be able to help her out with the cleanup and repair of whatever needs to be done. I know that storage room will need to be stripped and scrubbed and the plywood will have to be replaced for sure. I’m not sure if the water reached the electrical outlets and if so that will probably require some work by a licensed electrician too. We still do not know if there was any damage to the underside of her house, which could be what would rack up the highest bills.

As it appears right now she was fortunate. There are many others that have a long hard road ahead of them recovering from this disaster. It is a time to come together and show the love of Christ and put charity to work. Not charity in a “I feel sorry for you” sense, but charity as in Christ loves me so much that I must allow that love to spill over into the desire to help out any that I can.

I ask that you continue to lift up all of those with damaged houses and other property. Ask God how you may minister to these people and see where He leads you. It may be helping out someone clean their walls, to pray for someone in particular or to donate money or cleaning supplies to an agency that will adequately distribute to those in desperate need right now. I promise, He will lead you.

Our Flood Vs. The Flood

Day 306 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

My pic of the day is a common sight around here these days, as is seeing trucks pulling trailers loaded with sandbags. The most common thing? Water. That is for sure as Paducah is nearing record depths of the Ohio River here.

One can't help but think of Noah and the Great Flood that the Lord used to purge the Earth. He did promise that He would never flood the Earth again in the same manner and gave us the rainbow as a constant reminder (Genesis 9:12-13). Although this flood is just locally, it does make me think of how much water was around then and how devastating it would be. Well, it purged the Earth for one, which means a cleansing or removing of something.

If you think about it, humanity today is much worse than it was in the day of Noah, but yet God is being long suffering against us fallen creatures. Why hasn't He purged the Earth again of the evilness that we have become? The United States kills thousands of babies a day in the name of choice and for convenience sake. I'm not sure about other countries and their abortion rates, but I am sure that other countries are probably in line with ours. Look at the corruption all around us, the things of this world that pander to our flesh on a minute by minute pace. We are bombarded with things to make us feel good about ourselves, to make us "happy", to make us look better, feel better, make our lives easier and on and on. We are a very self centered people that can't seem to get enough of ourselves. We love us and we love us more than we love God.

So, why has God withheld judgment for so long? I have no idea, but I am thankful for His mercy and grace in doing so.

Flood 2011 - Still A Risin'

Day 305 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Another day, another trip to my mom's house via boat. Her reason was to get some things out of the fridge that she didn't want to spoil, but I am fairly sure it was to assess the flooding first hand and see how high the water has gotten.

As you can see the water has indeed made it to the house and is on the porch. It still has about 6 inches or so to make it to the doors. Also if you look close you can see that we have taped the doors to keep the water out as much as possible. Also beneath the tape is caulking to try and fill the cracks and gap between the door and the threshold and door jambs. Anything we can try to keep the water out we will. Her storage room is flooded, it has a few inches of water inside it and is heading up the steps to make it into the main part of the house. I did not make it to that door in time to caulk and tape as it had already started seeping yesterday, so I did as much as I could with it. I caulked and taped the access door too that room, so maybe it will hold if needed.

In this I do have a couple of major questions - Where is FEMA? Why has the President not declared this area a Federal Disaster yet? In 1997 when the area flooded President Clinton was very quick to sign off on Federal aid. President Obama was asked by Kentucky Governor Beshear to declare the area a federal disaster on April 28th. Almost a week later and still nothing. The '97 flood had much less flooding, so what gives? Where are the Feds when you need them? Has the government ran out of money for aid unless you are an auto maker or a bank? It is really starting to get to me a little bit. I sent a email to the White House earlier, but my one little email will probably prove futile. I think a bigger movement needs to happen and I am thinking of how to initiate one. Any suggestions?

Well, that's about it again for another Flood 2011 update. Hopefully I can return to my regular old boring posts.

Welcome To Lake Guill, Courtesy Flood 2011

Day 304 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

It looks like I have turned my picture of the day postings into a Flood 2011 update series instead. I guess that's because the flood has had the most impact on me for the past several days. Today I got the call from my mom to come get her. So, at about 9:15 I left work to go get my mom and her animals.

When I was there yesterday the water was still across a small field behind her house and still on the opposite side of her street. Today we drove the boat up to her house and tied it off to her porch, I stepped from the boat to her porch. There was, at that time this morning about 8" of water up her house. It will take about another 6-8 before it gets into her house. We tried to caulk the doors and used heavy duty tape to try and seal the doors as much as possible. I have no idea if it is working or not or if the water has even gotten that high yet. I do know a storage room that is a converted garage, that sits at ground level, had a very little bit of seepage under the door. I think the door had a really good seal around it already, but I added as much caulking as I could anyway. That particular door had water about 4" up on it at the time, so I was quite impressed with the little bit of water that I saw.

Her whole yard is a lake now, as is her whole street and is pushing on being that whole area. There are many homes being impacted by this around here and in many other communities. Every person in this area needs prayers, so please join in with us. Also pray for those families impacted by the Bird's Point- New Madrid Floodway that was initiated with a blast 90 - 100 miles away that shook our house and rumbled for a few seconds. Very impressive of an explosion indeed. There are several families that will lose their houses in that floodway and while I know they have known this since they purchased the property in that knowledge and is noted on their deeds, but that does not mean they should not receive our sympathy and prayers. Their loss will be the gain of many others and I am sorry for their loss, but am glad that it will relieve the flooding in this area.

Once again I just ask for your prayers for everyone in this area. My mom seems to be handling things fairly well, even though she dropped her flood insurance when she paid her house off at the end of last year. Bad timing, but it is God's timing. He is in control of this flood and He is directing the waters. While it is heartbreaking I do know that God has it all under control and nothing is going to surprise Him.

Wet Behind The Ears (And Everywhere Else Too)

Day 303 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I made a venture out to my mom's house today, at her request, to see what I thought about the rising water. She wanted to know if I thought it would actually flood her house or not, to which my guess is as good as hers. I do see that she did want another person's opinion, plus I think she is getting cabin fever. Maybe being stranded on Guill Isle is not fun after all.

We received some rain today, actually quite a bit through the day and night. The experts are saying the Ohio River will crest at 54' on Wednesday and then slowly start to lower. 54' is about 2 feet more than it is right now. How that relates to how much the ground coverage will increase is anyone's guess. I am intently watching in Missouri as the Corps of Engineers readies an emergency plan on the Mississippi River to relieve some of the pressure that has built through the river systems. The planned response effort will blow a levee that will then release millions of gallons of water into farm land designated for this purpose on 1927(ish). I am not one that wants to see anyone's farm destroyed, but I am more partial to people's homes, work places and their lives over any piece of property that will recover soon. My intentness in watching this is the hope that it also allows the Ohio River here to drain some of it's level off, thereby lowering the waters around my moms.

One thing that I am really surprised has not happened yet and that is President Obama declaring the affected areas as "Federal Disaster Areas". That would open up millions in Federal money to be used for this disaster. In 1997 they very quickly declared it a Federal disaster, but for some reason, with the waters much higher this time, they are balking. I would like to know why.

Through it all, God is still in control. He is not surprised about the flooding. He has not been caught off guard by the recent outbreak of tornadoes. He is God, He knows everything. Also, He does not do anything without the reason to bring glory to Himself.So, this trial for many will ultimately lead to His glorification. That is a hard thing for most people to grasp hold to, even a lot of professing Christians.