"God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah." (Psalm 46:1-3)

Finally. I now bring you official greetings from my home away from home, the ole blogger ranch, here at my workplace. When I left here last Friday afternoon I never dreamed I would not be back at my workstation until today, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. Our company has been blessed with several large projects and some of them are on a tight schedule, therefore, we will have to hit the ground running to try and get things back on track. Being at home on Monday and Tuesday made me acutely aware of the huge area of devastation brought on by this rain storm. All the major TV stations had crews out on the streets. Water rescues were being executed in every part of our sprawling metro-plex. There were a few instances where folks felt like they had not been responded to. The local county and city officials were forced to defend their responses. Fortunately, there was not a Katrina-like impact, although there were at least seven deaths and over one thousand homes flooded. It is amazing to view live shots of the flooded, deserted streets of one of the busiest commercial areas in our nation. Eerie. Very. It also reminds us all of our need for and our total dependence upon Almighty God. Amen.

The wife and I spent some quality time together during this little-unscheduled hiatus. The use of the word quality might be a stretch but we were definitely together. Maybe it was a preview of how things will go when I pull the trigger and retire - retire. She mentioned that. I received a note inquiring as to how we were faring from a dear brother in Christ. I told him we were high and dry, praise the Lord, and since I couldn't get out of my area to make it to work I had to settle for my wife's version of the grand slam breakfast. All homemade, of course. And, about mid afternoon she prepared a huge supper. All homemade, of course. I went on to tell him that if I was here every day and this is how we operated, it would not be long before I would be looking like the Goodyear blimp. As I was all laid back in my recliner flipping forth and back between the live news flood coverage and reruns of NCIS, she asked me a probing question: "So, do you think this is how it will be when you retire?" I told her that while I couldn't be sure, I didn't think it would be exactly like this, but, the show came back on so I'll have to get back to her later on that one.

We did walk down to the end of our street a couple of times to check out the water levels. Two men were standing there the first time we went. One of them has a large house that was flooded. The other older man told us that what looked to be a tiny object about six blocks away was the top of his pickup truck. It was submerged in water. They went on to say there was also a car in the water but it was completely under and out of sight. That street is the one I take every day. I almost tried it Monday morning. I had been up during the storm and checking the weather reports online. I knew it was pretty bad. When I got up to leave around 3:30 the traffic was busy in and around our street. I knew something was up. I told the wife. They are going round and round. They can't get out. Some of the vehicles were jacked up trucks but they couldn't find a way out. I'm so thankful I never left the house. I mean that. I could easily have been that older man pointing to the top of the roof of my truck. I just thank the Lord for His provision. And, many of you will attest to this being an unbelievable storm in terms of thunder, lightning, and rain. Loud. The whole house shaking. Scary stuff. I remember what Hurricane Ike did. We still have some huge pine trees. But, God was good and we come away praying for others and praising Him for His goodness and love. Amen. ....More later.