Surviving the Wind & Rain

As you know if you live in Nor Cal or if you’ve paid attention to the news, we’ve had incessant rain and wild weather the past 3 weeks. The rain is welcome. We need it… maybe not all at once, but we need it. Iona House has a stand of around 15-20 Ponderosa Pines that died this past summer due to the bark beetles that ravage trees during seasons of drought. The land is crying out for water. And now it’s getting what it asked for. We praise God for this.

Along with the rain, we’ve had some serious wind action as well. I don’t remember storms like this with wild wind when I was a youngster growing up in this area. Elizabeth and I are particular dialed in on the wind right now because we have the large canopy tent set up on the land which is intended to be a safe haven from the weather. We had no idea when we set it up in November that this winter would be as rainy and windy as it has been. Multiple nights we have woken up at 4 in the morning to howling wind and instinctively moved to prayer. In the greater scheme of things it’s a small thing if it is destroyed… several thousand dollars and several days of work. But for us, it is a symbol of some kind. So each time we go out to the land after the storm and see if it is still standing… and each time it has still been standing. A few parts are being strained, but the whole thing is intact and has survived. It’s truly remarkable considering that it has now withstood as much as 60mph gusts. Nearly every night when we pray together for Iona House, we thank God that the tent is still standing. It’s become for us a sign of steadfastness and hope in the midst of adversity.

May He sustain you and bless you and make you steadfast, anchored to Him - the rock of our salvation.

PS - The land has held up quite well under the storms so far. No real damage to report… just lots of down branches from the wind and some big-time mud puddles.