MIRACLE ALERT: Matthew was our first hurricane. A doozy. Wyatt turned 17 on the day the storm hit. Memorable present. We decided to evacuate. Loaded up pictures, videos, paintings, guitars, guns, computers, our little dog Lucy Loo Hoo and Sawyer’s 5’ stuffed bear. Headed 35 miles inland to Kellie’s parents, unsure, like so many, what we would come back to.
Wyatt and I drove back Saturday to find our acre of 25+ trees smothered in fallen branches, some huge. But NOT A SHINGLE MISSING or even ruffled! No broken windows! No flooding! Not one tree down! A giant limb barely missed the new AC unit. The pool lanai completely in tact. Not one puncture or tear! By contrast, less than a mile down the road an airport hanger was destroyed.
Praise Carl Sagan's brute physics and capricious chance? Hardly.
According to my sailor friend Ed, NSB was spared by an act of God through physics. At low tide Saturday morning surge was 3 feet, equal to high tide, poised to wreak havoc pushed by 100 mph winds from the sea. BUT, the eye of Matthew turned/remained farther off shore than expected. Hmm. Plus, right before high tide, its position switched the wind direction. Hmm. The northeasterly billows became trailing winds from the west. Hmm. This pushed back the surge and massive waves to spare many in our town the level of devastation north of us through the Carolinas. Hmm.
Miracle? Purely physics? Luck? Hmm. Certainly a choreography of land, sky and sea...directed by? allowed by? (Some might feel…unleashed by?)
Of course, this begs the question. Was all the damage, destruction and even death elsewhere divine choreography? God's intended or permissive will? Permissive, certainly. All I know is sometimes the Lord calms the wind and the wave and sometimes he lets it rumble, humble and even crumble us. I have experienced all of the above and continue to believe: Life is hard, but God is good.
Wyatt and I drove back Saturday to find our acre of 25+ trees smothered in fallen branches, some huge. But NOT A SHINGLE MISSING or even ruffled! No broken windows! No flooding! Not one tree down! A giant limb barely missed the new AC unit. The pool lanai completely in tact. Not one puncture or tear! By contrast, less than a mile down the road an airport hanger was destroyed.
Praise Carl Sagan's brute physics and capricious chance? Hardly.
According to my sailor friend Ed, NSB was spared by an act of God through physics. At low tide Saturday morning surge was 3 feet, equal to high tide, poised to wreak havoc pushed by 100 mph winds from the sea. BUT, the eye of Matthew turned/remained farther off shore than expected. Hmm. Plus, right before high tide, its position switched the wind direction. Hmm. The northeasterly billows became trailing winds from the west. Hmm. This pushed back the surge and massive waves to spare many in our town the level of devastation north of us through the Carolinas. Hmm.
Miracle? Purely physics? Luck? Hmm. Certainly a choreography of land, sky and sea...directed by? allowed by? (Some might feel…unleashed by?)
Of course, this begs the question. Was all the damage, destruction and even death elsewhere divine choreography? God's intended or permissive will? Permissive, certainly. All I know is sometimes the Lord calms the wind and the wave and sometimes he lets it rumble, humble and even crumble us. I have experienced all of the above and continue to believe: Life is hard, but God is good.
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