Chapter 11 – The Flood
This chapter isn’t about Noah’s Flood, but my flood.
We lived on a golf course, that had a creek running beside it, for pretty much my whole life. We moved out there when I was about seven years old. The house was on a huge hill with a big yard before you came to the golf course. It was probably a good four or five hundred yards to the creek.
It was a wonderful home with plenty of room for my large family. And as often was the case, anyone of our friends who happened to be down on their luck or just need some family time. It was always full of people and fun!
It changed of course over the years and especially after my dad passed. My mom, that same year became bedbound, and I had to have full time help living with me to help take care of her.
The creek would periodically flood out of the banks. It would flood the golf course and every few years may come a little bit up the hill, but as I said… It was a big hill.
One night, my neighbor started knocking and ringing my doorbell about five in the morning frantically. I awoke and opened the door, only after realizing who it was, and he told me that we needed to think about getting out. He said the creek was up… I thanked him and shut the door not really taking it too seriously. Because as I said… It was a big hill.
I went to the back door and was shocked that when I opened it, the water was already over that big hill and almost to the back porch. I slammed the door and yelled for my caregiver to help me with my Mom.
She got her ready to get in the car, which was a Nissan Pathfinder. (This will be important later) I proceeded to grab photo albums, my home insurance file and my dogs. We all loaded up in the car and began to drive out of the neighborhood.
There was only one road in and out of where we lived, and it curved around with the golf course and next to the creek. When I got to the last part of the road before it went up a hill, there was a cop car that passed me. He gave me two fingers to go ahead and pass. There was some water on the road at that point but not much. I’m sure he thought it was safe since he had just crossed that road, and I was in a higher pathfinder. I also saw in the distance a fire truck, so they were likely about to shut that road down.
Literally, a few seconds later the water was OVER the hood of my car. They later said the force of that water was more than the force of Niagara Falls. I felt the car leave the pavement and I knew we were probably dead.
I began to scream pray. I don’t know if you’ve ever done it, but you would know if you had. Through tears, I was screaming and begging God to please just let us pass. Please! Then scripture started coming to my mind and I started quoting back to him… “You say if I have the faith of a mustard seed, you will move a mountain. Well, I have the faith of a mountain, and I KNOW that you can do this. I have faith that you can do this. Just please let us pass…”
I never took my foot off of the gas and with that prayer, we got just a little bit of traction at first and then we slowly just drove out of there. We drove like that with the water over the hood of my pathfinder about a thousand yards. The water never came into the car. And the engine never stalled. A miracle of miracles. Praise the Lord!
Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
We got to my brother’s house and of course, they had no idea what was going on. It was still dark outside, and they were sleeping. We had been frantically calling them and got them on the phone right before arriving. As soon as I got out of the car, I collapsed in my brother’s arms.
We still didn’t believe that the water could have made it into the house. Because like I said… It was a big hill. My brother and I went over there when the authorities said it was clear. There were police at the entrance to the neighborhood checking identification, because after a flood everybody has to pull out all of their belongings to dry and looters will come and steal everything. What a world.
Through the next few months there were many miracles that manifested His sweet love and care for us as we had to rebuild our house. I won’t go into all of them, but I will say this. He used that experience not only to build my faith, but to plant many seeds with everyone I came in contact with after that. Even my insurance agent commented on my good mood for having lost so much. I told Him that Jesus saved my life that day and I could give a crap about the house. After hearing the story, he told me that there was no reason for me to be alive. I knew that, and that is why I keep telling everyone. He would tell me later that he shared that with his wife and everyone he knew and in his office. The Way…
Below are pictures. One is of the flood hours after, when my brother and I went back to assess the damage. The other is my pathfinder. The license plate unscrewed and bent in half with the force of the water. What a miracle… Thank you Jesus for sparing our lives!
