Typhoon season in Taiwan, we always had one or two rip through and cause a lot of mischief. I remember one year in particular; I was about fifteen.
I went out on the front patio to close the metal grate that came down over the patio doors and covered the front porch. I watched the torrential rain and stood mesmerized as the water shot up of the drain two feet in the air like a fountain. My mom met me at the front door, handed me a bucket and told me to go up and start bailing water off the balconies on the second and third floors. There were three balconies open to the weather, one on the second floor and two in the front and back of the third floor. We lived in a row house, which was a long, concrete building, divided into 5 houses. The door leading out to each balcony had a small two-inch threshold in front of the door and windows designed for this very reason. It was supposed to keep rainwater from flooding the house but it also kept the water from draining off the balcony. The typhoon that year was severe enough we were barely keeping it under that lip by bailing the water. I bailed the one off my parent’s room and ran past my sister and two boys (for lack of a better term, foster boys) sitting on the stairs hoping to keep dry. Mom thought it would be the safest place for them, Mom had stacked blankets on the stairs as well, trying to keep them dry. I bailed off the balcony on the front of the third floor and ran to the back door, while my mom went from balcony to balcony also bailing off water. I ran to the balcony on the back of the third floor, again bailing off water. On the back balcony was a ladder that went to a trap door that opened out onto the roof. On the front and back of the roof was a short wall that came above the level of the roof, while the apposite sides were adjoined by our neighbor’s house. Around the trap door was a lip of about 8 inches or so with the trap door keeping the rainwater from coming down flooding the balcony, which could then flood under the door that led to the third floor that led to the stairs that led to where my sister was safeguarding the boys and blankets.
Yes, I thought I would be helpful, and opened that trap door that was doing its job so efficiently. This immediately brought a huge waterfall on myself and it went under the door and all the way down three flights of stairs, drenching my two sweet foster brothers and my sister. The torrent continued all the way to the first floor and out the front door.
The blankets which mom had put in a ‘safe place’ were soaked!
For years I let my mom believe the storm was so severe that the water flooded into the house all on its own. She’s told this story to lots of people, and I let her tell it the way she thought it all happened and until very recently, (way beyond any chance that I could be in trouble.) I let her believe what she wanted to. She never questioned why the flood happened all at once, and why it stopped despite the storm continuing.
In our family, we have put a lot of puzzles together with our family and as we are fitting in the last few pieces, one of the kids will quietly pocket a piece so that when we have all the other pieces in place, they get to be the one to add the last piece. Sometimes in life, we have a piece of the puzzle missing and we think we understand the picture, and then that last piece changes everything.
As my kids grow up and move out of the house, I bet there will be lots of things that happened under my roof that I will find out about long after they are gone. Sometimes when we are in the middle of the storm, it can be terrifying. However when the storm is passed you will see what God has wrought in your life. You will see how much strong you are, and what you are capable of. God can see all that from his perspective, but while you are standing in the middle of it getting drenched you might feel like you don’t have the strength to make it through the storm. Just hold on.
God isn’t letting go of you. Don’t let go of Him.
He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. Psalm107:29
