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Exceptional drought

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Let’s just look at that map for awhile.

I said awhile back with the extreme heat in Texas, “What? Is Texas the new Arizona?” I was joking, but as I stare at that map, I can’t help but wonder. It’s so hard to comprehend from here in Tennessee, where we’ve been blessed with rain through the summer. My yard is a lush, thick green carpet. The lake is nice a full. I’ve fallen asleep to a thunderstorm recently.

However, down in Texas, its a whole different story. The last time I was down, it was definitely already staggering how dry it was… and that was about a month ago, now. National news has been covering the drought here and there, but I know the news reports are nothing like being there in person. Temperatures have been 100+ for days on end, setting records. And the lakes… they’re hardly lakes.

I may be a Nashvillian now, but I am forever in my heart a Texan. And that same heart aches to see the footage of the drought. It aches for the many farmers who have lost their crops and who are losing their cattle due to lack of feed and water.  I don’t think much of the nation realizes what kind of economic impact this drought will have for a long, long time.

Water… its a natural resource we seem to take for granted. But right now, the people of Texas are crying out for it. They are desperate for rain. They are desperate for a break in the high temperatures. Cities that usually have plenty of water in reserve are having to tap into their back-up sources, further draining lakes. As I witness many watering their lawns here, I can’t help be think about those who are just hoping they’ll have water to drink in days and weeks to come down in Texas.

I ask, please, if you’re a believer in God… take this moment to say a short prayer for a break for the people of Texas (and for all those affected by the drought.) Pray for rain.

If you need help with that, beliefnet posted this prayer in July:

“God, you send rains in season. It is a season of need in Texas. Send more rain to that parched land and more again across all the thirsty southern states. Find a small and willing cloud sitting bored over some vacant part of the Caribbean, and give it a push toward Houston. Make a Hurricane, perhaps, not strong enough to destroy, but filled with warmed moisture and send it North. We ask you for rain. Let the drought unite many millions to ask you for help. We trust in you. You made the world to need the waters of heaven. You made the world to need the waters of life. You are the source of rain. We ask you. Let it rain. In Jesus name.”

If you are curious for more details about the drought, check out these articles:

news-commentary

On hope and resilience

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Like, I hope, millions of others, I sat glued to my TV last night, watching the Jaycee Dugard interview on ABC. I actually rushed home from church and bought a frozen dinner (instead of cooking) so I could watch it.

I’ve periodically wondered how she is doing ever since she was discovered in 2009 after having been missing for 18 years. I understood her need for privacy (refusing to buy any of the magazines that claimed to have the scoop), but I still wondered. Almost exactly six months older than me, her story hit me deeply. I couldn’t imagine missing the 18 keys years of life — junior high, high school, college… marriage. And to have given birth… TWICE… in a backyard…. at such a young age! My heart ached for her, and I prayed she’d find peace and be able to make a life today for herself.

The few clips I saw leading up to the special showed me a strong woman, and I was already inspired by her.

So when I sat down with my bowl of microwaved jambalaya and a glass of wine, I wasn’t watching out of any weird morbid curiosity. I watched to be inspired more…

And I WAS.

What I watched was one of the strongest most amazing women I’ve ever seen. We look up to actresses and singers, etc. but its people like Jaycee that we need to look up to and be inspired by. Having gone through such a horrible ordeal, she faces her story head-on and hopes it’ll help others who have been victims of rape and kidnapping. She has been through a lot, but there was a peace on her face. She spoke of hope and living every single day to its fullest.

Her relationship with her mother made me so happy, and I got teary at times watching them interact. She speaks of her daughters — girls she gave birth to after becoming pregnant at the hands of her captor — with a deep mother’s love of her own. If she finds her “soul mate” and some day gets married, that’s great. But she’s happy in her life as it is.

She’s happy.

And THAT is what I so hoped to see. More than anything, I hoped to see a happy woman.

I’m going to try to pick up her book (A Stolen Life: A Memoir) soon. I want to read more of her strong, positive and inspiring words. Learn more about how she coped through it all. And I’ll read it knowing it is the words of a woman I officially look up to and admire. I pray I never go through anything like what she went through — NO ONE should go through that — but, more, I pray that in any trial thrown at me in life, I will handle it with even a little bit of the strength she has shown to have.