Look up at the rain, the beautiful display of power and surrender

Last night's storm was completely unreal. It was almost like living in a movie; the rain just kept coming and the water kept rising. I left around 5:30pm to go to my class, but after driving half a mile down the road, I turned back. My windshield wipers were on the highest setting and I still couldn't see. I was driving on a road I travel everyday, but because of the great amounts of standing water, I couldn't even tell where the road was. My car made huge waves even though I was driving no faster than 20 miles an hour.

Our yard was completely soaked. A river flowed from one corner of the yard to the other and a small lake formed in the backyard. About an hour after I came back home from my brief adventure, I headed out with my parents to inspect the flooding around town. The ditches in our old neighborhood were completely filled and spilling over onto the roads. In fact one of the roads in that subdivision was completely covered with water. By the time we got there, it had receded back into the ditch but was still quite the sight. Another neighborhood had lots of flooding in front and backyards, and the retention pond was filled to the brim. It was just an incredible sight.

We heard stories of cars being stuck on the freeway and on side streets in Milwaukee. Interstates were closed at certain areas because of standing water. In some places, cars were up to their windshields in water. There was even a story of a car being swept away into a creek. But the scariest has to be the car that dropped into a sinkhole. I can't even imagine witnessing that.

And this morning as I'm writing, it's just started to rain again. We're just stuck in the middle of this huge chain of rain that keeps popping up. As soon as we think we're finally in the clear, another rainstorm pops up and the cycle continues.

In the past 24 hours, we all witnessed in some way the power of water. Water can sweep away vehicles as if they were children's toys. It takes hardly any water at all to move some of the heaviest vehicles. It's scary to just think about the potential that water has.

Regardless of the power of flood waters, God has so much more power! I'm reading through the Psalms and very appropriately, I was at Psalm 91 last night. Just by reading the introduction to the chapter, I knew it was going to be extremely relevant. The intro said "God's protection in the midst of danger. God doesn't promise a world free from danger, but He does promise His help whenever we face danger." As I went on to read the chapter, I was blown away by the truth in the verses. The Bible contains so many verses that are still applicable to this day, and that just blows my mind.

I've learned in my nineteen years of life that God never gives us more than we can handle. Sometimes it may seem as though everything is piling up and there is no end in sight. But God knows what He's doing, even if we don't.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. ...If you make the Lord Most High your dwelling...then no harm will befall you. .."Because He loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him..." - Psalm 91:7, 9, 10, 14, 15