Post-Rita
Life happens. Rita happened. She came, she saw, she diverted, she left.
This is the first time that I packed the family and ran from a storm, but I followed both my gut and broadcast instructions. We live in Zone C, so we were required to be out by Thursday noon. We made it out by about 2:30 - it took longer to board up all the windows than I estimated. The Hardie-board siding looks pretty good on the front windows!
We all worked as a team and our evacuation went very well. Traffic was ugly, but we found some back roads thanks to my trusty navigator and oldest son. We were in Austin after only 13 hours on the road. 8 of those hours were spent travelling from I-10 and Hiway 6 to about 5 miles short of Brookshire. Any other day that trip would take 10 minutes tops. Thank God for MapPoint on the laptop!
Everyone did very well - it was much less stress than it could have been; especially as tired as we all were. I was impressed.
We enjoyed visiting with best friends for the weekend. The trip back was pleasant - no traffic worth mentioning. The house was unharmed.
I thought about a LOT of things while we were gone. Perhaps I'll get into it on another entry, but I'll put some notes here.
We prepared for the storm. Sure, I'm relieved that our house was unharmed, but I would have never prayed for the storm to divert. Weaken and dissipate, perhaps, but not divert. Why would I ask God to cause someone else harm for the sake of my property? We prepared for the stotm, then it hit those who were less prepared. I don't question God about that, but I wouldn't have wished it or prayed for it, either.
I didn't talk to anyone in Austin about any person from Houston who was not present. If my friends in Austin want to know about our mutual friends in Houston, they can call them. They SHOULD call them. I didn't even talk about myself to those friends - where I am, how I am spiritually, etc. My Austin friends haven't called or emailed or kept in touch, so one weekend with them doesn't put them at the place in my life that they should / would be qualified to offer counsel. I've finally realized what we were all taught years ago. If they aren't part of the problem or the solution, then they really don't need to be involved at all.
I spent a LOT of time thinking about my house - how well did our preparations work?
I thought about family...
I thought about close friends... how they fared with the storm...
I thought about my job... I won't "go there" now.
I wondered what lessons would be learned from all of this. I'm already seeing fruit of some lessons, most particularly in self-control; controlling my thoughts and not letting "sensed emotions" become confused with my own emotions.
Can I say this? NEVER trust what you FEEL. Only what you KNOW. When you think that you are "sensing" something, check yourself... is it a feeling, or truly a sensing? Faith is never about what or how you feel. Faith is always knowing, then acting on that knowledge. Faith is often knowing what you don't see, but not feeling what you don't know. I think that's why many Christians stumble in their faith; they act on "feelings", not knowledge. Enough of that.
Comment away. So many thoughts, so little time.
This is the first time that I packed the family and ran from a storm, but I followed both my gut and broadcast instructions. We live in Zone C, so we were required to be out by Thursday noon. We made it out by about 2:30 - it took longer to board up all the windows than I estimated. The Hardie-board siding looks pretty good on the front windows!
We all worked as a team and our evacuation went very well. Traffic was ugly, but we found some back roads thanks to my trusty navigator and oldest son. We were in Austin after only 13 hours on the road. 8 of those hours were spent travelling from I-10 and Hiway 6 to about 5 miles short of Brookshire. Any other day that trip would take 10 minutes tops. Thank God for MapPoint on the laptop!
Everyone did very well - it was much less stress than it could have been; especially as tired as we all were. I was impressed.
We enjoyed visiting with best friends for the weekend. The trip back was pleasant - no traffic worth mentioning. The house was unharmed.
I thought about a LOT of things while we were gone. Perhaps I'll get into it on another entry, but I'll put some notes here.
We prepared for the storm. Sure, I'm relieved that our house was unharmed, but I would have never prayed for the storm to divert. Weaken and dissipate, perhaps, but not divert. Why would I ask God to cause someone else harm for the sake of my property? We prepared for the stotm, then it hit those who were less prepared. I don't question God about that, but I wouldn't have wished it or prayed for it, either.
I didn't talk to anyone in Austin about any person from Houston who was not present. If my friends in Austin want to know about our mutual friends in Houston, they can call them. They SHOULD call them. I didn't even talk about myself to those friends - where I am, how I am spiritually, etc. My Austin friends haven't called or emailed or kept in touch, so one weekend with them doesn't put them at the place in my life that they should / would be qualified to offer counsel. I've finally realized what we were all taught years ago. If they aren't part of the problem or the solution, then they really don't need to be involved at all.
I spent a LOT of time thinking about my house - how well did our preparations work?
I thought about family...
I thought about close friends... how they fared with the storm...
I thought about my job... I won't "go there" now.
I wondered what lessons would be learned from all of this. I'm already seeing fruit of some lessons, most particularly in self-control; controlling my thoughts and not letting "sensed emotions" become confused with my own emotions.
Can I say this? NEVER trust what you FEEL. Only what you KNOW. When you think that you are "sensing" something, check yourself... is it a feeling, or truly a sensing? Faith is never about what or how you feel. Faith is always knowing, then acting on that knowledge. Faith is often knowing what you don't see, but not feeling what you don't know. I think that's why many Christians stumble in their faith; they act on "feelings", not knowledge. Enough of that.
Comment away. So many thoughts, so little time.