AFTER THE SECOND RAINEST AUGUST IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE HISTORY
Please take a few minutes to reflect and pray on these verses from Paul's letter to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 4: 17-24 - "With the Lord's authority let me say this: Live no longer as the ungodly do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They don't care anymore about right and wrong, and they have given themselves over to immoral ways. Their lives are filled with all kinds of impurity and greed. But that isn't what you were taught when you learned about Christ. Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness--righteous, holy, and true."
ONE OF BEST REVIEWS OF FBI abuse of its power and mandate to protect the American people I've ever seen. Jesse Watters in this edition of Watters'
Words hits the ball outta the park. Well worth listening to. We ignore at our greater peril.
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
AFTER YEARS OF PASTORING IN JACKSON, WYOMING at River Crossing, Mike and Patty Atkins have moved to Cashiers, NC. I'm so glad they are closer to Tennessee so we can continue our special fellowship and friendships.
Mike preaches here from 1 John 2:
2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
NO ONE DENIES THAT 15-17 INCHES OF RAIN falling in 6-8 hours over a big area, some of it 300' higher than than the town of Waverly, would be devastating to anyone or anything on or near the little creek that runs through the town.
Still, Waverly, Tennessee was established on the floodplain of little Trace Creek in the early 19th century and has endured many flash floods over the years. It's always managed to bounce back.
But the nearest complete washout of the town almost two weeks ago was of such magnitude, it may never come back completely to its former glory.
I've heard a number of residents who lost family members, friends, homes, possessions say they want to relocate and never rebuild in Waverly. Who could blame them?
What could have possibly made this flood so much worse than all the others?
First, the raised railroad bed running alongside the little creek acted as a levee---with few, if any large culverts to release the growing water pressure--- which held back the rapidly rising rainfall on Trace Creek for miles upstream as it dropped some 300' from McEwen, TN.
Then there a railroad bridge downstream with bridge abutment that got so clogged with debris that it became a Hoover-like dam for water held in by the railroad levee.
The railroad bridge 'dam' held the humongous rising water heroically until pressure built up so exponentially that it finally exploded in a violent wall of water descending like a ticking time bomb on the town of Waverly. Some of the raises railroad bed finally exploded under the train tracks, letting the wild water through and destroying the tracks above.
Downstream in Waverly, anyone or anything not already on higher ground was doomed for destruction in a matter of minutes as the wall if water raced down the now unimpeded creek.
I'll be back later with a few more thoughts. Meanwhile, this town and its people need all the prayers and help it can get.
(Below is a photo of the raised railroad bed upstream near McEwen with little Trace Creek on the right beneath the railroad, and the highway to the left.) What could possibly go wrong?
