July 09, 2025
As I write there is an ongoing search for missing children and adults in the aftermath of the horrific floods in Texas. We’re all shocked and saddened by the loss of life, especially the little girls who were swept away from their idyllic summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River. It’s hard to comprehend how a river can rise 26 feet in only 45 minutes, from a meander to a torrent. It’s a grim reminder of the irresistible forces of nature that can suddenly overtake us.
At times like this there is the predictable call for “thoughts and prayers”. And rightly so. It’s an indication of the latent sense of our dependence on our Maker. I say latent because for many of us it is. We don’t call on God except when we’re in trouble.
Perhaps a better word would be “intuitive”. There’s an upward call in all of us because, in biblical terms, we’ve been made “in the image of God” and we have a homing instinct for heaven. In that sense we’re pilgrims with only a few moments to “strut and fret our hour upon the stage and then be heard no more”, as Shakespeare famously wrote.
This world is not our home.
So even as we pray for the bereaved Texan families our hearts look upward. Dear Lord have mercy.
