"Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words." Saint Francis of Assisi

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Heavy Rains

Yesterday we had a couple hours of heavy rain. We needed it. It's been a pretty dry summer.

Even though we needed it we always cringe a little when it rains hard for longer than 30 minutes. Why? Because there is so much trash in our sewer systems that when it rains it floods lots of different areas of the city.

It rained so hard yesterday that our airport had to send two planes, trying to land, to another city in another state to land until the storm passed.

During and after the rain the streets looked like this yesterday:
Not a pretty sight.

Now imagine what that does to people living in favelas with dirt or plywood floors. We have a family in our church that used to live in a place like that. Whenever it rained like it did yesterday their floor became wet and muddy. Thankfully the city provided them with a brand new home when they needed their neighborhood land to extend the airport runway for the World Cup next year.

I read yesterday where a 61 year old taxi driver got stuck in the flood. Water started coming into his car. The paper he had some type of sudden illness inside the car and started to get out. He fell in the water and drowned.

Living in the states for so many years we never saw things like this happening with a heavy rain.

Yesterday we were reminded how bad things are for many people in our city, and the world. We were also reminded of how quickly things can change and how we never know if today is our last day to live. We need to live it to the fullest.

The next time you are in a long, heavy rain remember the people of POA and lots of places in the world where rain is needed but isn't always a crop watering, water reservoir adding blessing. It can, literally, be life changing and not always in the good way.

1 comment:

the Jewell family said...

I remember looking out my upper level apartment window and saying how much I like storms, as Lorena and I watched the lightning. She asked what about the people in the favelas and I've never looked at a storm the same way since.