Through all the uncertainities, always keep faith

In late December of 1971, I heard a crashing sound of trees snapping and a roar of flowing dirt. It startled my husband and I and we both rushed to the window to try to see what had happened, but we couldn’t see anything because it was pitch dark outside and it was pouring rain. We were about to look for a flashlight when we heard the terrible sound again, this time on the other side of the house.

While we where looking for the flashlight there was a knock at the door, surprised, we both went to the door to see who could possibly be visiting.

There on our doorstep was a couple, wet and looking shocked. They told us of the first mudslide that had rushed across the road stopping them in their tracks, then when they had managed to turn around they had been stopped by the second mudslide.

We invited them in and enjoyed a two-day visit with them as we waited together for the road crews to come and clear the road so they could be on their way.

I lived on the North shore of Hood Canal in a little cabin with about five hundred feet of beach on either side. We had five acres of steep forested hillside behind us and this is where the mudslides originated. I had always thought this event made an interesting story about entertaining strangers, until last week when I learned with the rest of the world how devastating a mudslide can be.

No longer will I think of mudslides as an occasional road blocking inconvenience. After the square mile mudslide in Oso, Wash., I know that they can wipe out house, people, and lives. Now, I feel goose bumps, as I realize that that evening we had experienced a miracle.

It is like this with miracles; it is often in hindsight that we realize that we have received one. We slip into denial quickly. Maybe denial is a way for the brain to protect us from the stress of knowing how truly vulnerable we are.

God knows how vulnerable we are and God cares. In the aftermath of the Oso mudslide we might question God’s love. Yet, in the light of this Lenten and Easter season, we are reminded of how deeply God cares. Jesus died and rose again, so that we could also die and rise again into eternal life.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55.

There are miracles that keep us in this world and there is the miracle of life after death. In the uncertainties of this life, it is good to know that God’s eternal love, reaches out to all of us.