“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7

The Details

Growing up on Galveston island off the coast of Texas, I lived through quite a few hurricanes—some mild ones, and some very terrible ones. Sometimes we stayed put on the island and weathered the storm. Other times we went inland for safety. My mom had lived there all her life. She had an uncanny ability to predict which ones would be bad. She would stand on the 17-foot seawall looking at the water with the waves coming in and get a “feel” of what was happening. There were some times when she’d say, “We need to leave.” I’m sure God was guiding her and speaking to her because she knew how to hear the voice of the Lord.

There was one particular storm when she felt we should leave. We packed what we could into our car and went inland to stay with relatives. I had a doll collection—dolls from all over the world that my brothers had brought to me when they were stationed overseas with the military. I loved those dolls. But we couldn’t take them with us. My parents had scrimped and saved for years to buy me a set of encyclopedias for my studies at school. That was the first thing that went into the car!

The storm was bad. Water had risen from the Gulf of Mexico side and from the bay side. We had six feet of water in our house. We had to wait for the water to go down before we could even go home. When we did, everything was ruined… everything! Including all my dolls. Clothes, furniture—it was all gone. It was a hard time for my family because we had very little money. I’ll never forget the impact of that storm on our lives. Hurricane Carla is forever part of our family history. It remains one of the strongest storms to ever hit the Texas coast.

Many years later there was a movie called “The Perfect Storm.” It wasn’t perfect in a good way. It was perfect in a horrible, catastrophic way. There were some tragedies in the movie. I remember watching that movie and thinking it was a bit too close to reality for me.

Walking through our current pandemic has reminded me of these things. There is now the same sense of an incredible power, a force being at work—and the helplessness of feeling unable to do anything to combat it.

Two things come to mind about Carla that show how God was with us in the small details of that event. My mom had just bought a very large cardboard container of detergent that had been on sale right before we had to leave the island. The container burst open when all the water came flooding in. It was slippery when we walked back into the house because of all the soap everywhere—but it also helped with the cleanup.

The second thing had to do with our dog. We weren’t able to take our dog with us.  It was so hard to leave him behind, but he was a big dog and there just wasn’t room in our one small car with three people and our belongings (all those encyclopedias!) We were sure the dog was lost. However, as the water rose, the dog swam to an upstairs balcony and stayed there. A neighbor had stayed on the island during the storm, and he went out in his boat to see how everyone’s house had fared once the winds died down. He saw our dog on the balcony, took him home, and cared for him until we returned.

God cared for our dog in that hurricane. He cares for us in this current Covid-19 storm! He is watching out for all the details, caring for us in ways that aren’t seen. Someday we are going to have some great stories to tell—some wonderful memories of God’s goodness. He is a God of detail.

Memories are a strange thing. They can lie dormant for years, and then suddenly pop up. When an “old memory” rises to the surface, I usually take note as often God is speaking to me through the memory. These memories from my childhood have reminded me that God has been with me all my life. He is carrying me through this pandemic.

Father, You think of everything!