Last year the TV news had told of the southern Alberta floods. The devastation was like no one could even imagine. What a nightmare!
It made me realize what a small incident was the flooding of our basement after the water tank burst. Of course we were not home. One seems always to be absent when these things happen. Our neighbour was checking the house and reached us by phone.
The clean up consisted of vacuuming up one rug and throwing out two others. One had been glued down and that took hours and hours to remove. Needless to say the return from our holiday was not a happy event.
Many decades earlier I had been involved in the 1948 flood of the Fraser Valley in B.C.
Well, perhaps involved is not the best of terms. Actually I peeled dozens and dozens of potatoes so we could feed the flood victims. As a 12 year old there wasn’t much I could do.
But I remember the view from our house on the hill. Water, water everywhere…right up to the CPR tracks under the Lougheed Highway and across the Flats, the Fraser River and Matsqui. Floods left sidewalks hanging in space, still connected but with no soil underneath them. Really weird!
As an Albertan my eyes were glued to the TV as I again experienced the awesome strength of Nature. It is humbling and my heart ached for all those who had lost so much.
But in all this tragedy we gained something. Folks who had never spoken to each other offered help of any kind…even if it meant getting their hands dirty. The degree of volunteerism staggers the mind.
The Golden Rule was the rule of the day. Do unto others…..and they did…helping, feeding, housing, comforting. The list is endless. God’s glory was reflected in every one of those selfless acts.
It says a great deal for Albertans and it says a great deal about Canadians.
On Canada Day I wore my red, maple-leaf T-shirt and joyfully joined with the congregation the Sunday prior to sing ” Oh Canada.”
If you’ve never sung the second verse before, check out #800 in the Book of Praise and see if your eyes don’t fill with tears. God has given us a very special gift …. this beautiful country…our country of Canada.
