Here We Go Again

This isn't a normal  river- it's main street in Terra Boa after a few days of rain.
The cobblestone street has been replaced by a rapidly flowing river and can't be driven on.

Well, we’re still trying to recover and clean-up from the flooding and storm damage we had back in February and now “here we go again!” It started raining a couple of days ago and it hasn’t stopped. It’s slowed down to a miserable drizzle at different times over the last few days but it hasn’t stopped completely for more than 30 seconds at a time. 

I’m looking out the window and it’s extremely windy and the rain is actually blowing sideways right now. Even though it’s windy, we haven’t seen the wind damage like we saw last time (PTL!) but the amount of rain that’s fallen is ridiculous. When the rain falls up here on the mountain it flows through all the rivers and streams and down to the bottom of the mountain into town (Terra Boa). And man, has it flowed!

As you can see from the pictures below the streets in town have turned into rivers and can’t be driven on. The electricity has gone out several times over the last few days too. So, not only are we prisoners inside our house because of the rain, but we’re also in the dark. And, FYI, there’s a difference between being in the dark in the city and being in the dark in the jungle. Jungle darkness is on a completely different level. And just in case you didn’t know- it’s best to replace the batteries in your flashlights ‘before’ the electricity goes out, as opposed to during the power outage... just thought I’d mention that: )

MJ lighting candles for the millionth time. Man, it's dark here: (

A view of the street from someones front yard on main street in Terra Boa.

A view of town from a helicopter. Main street is a river. You can see the soccer field totally submerged on the right. And at the North end of town you can see that it's totally under water.

The Povo (grocery store) trying to deliver food, driving through the flooded streets.

But, to be honest with you, we’re becoming kind of numb to the adverse circumstances and crappy weather. Sure, it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, paralyzing (from a productivity standpoint), aggravating, and somewhat depressing- but for some reason it’s not affecting us as bad as it has in the past. I think we’ve finally submitted to the fact that things aren’t gonna go the way that we want them to here and we just need to pray, trust God and just roll with the punches. Getting frustrated does absolutely no good in this situation (or any other, for that matter) so why not just go with it?

It reminds me of that story in Mark 4 where Jesus had preached all day and then He jumps into the boat with the disciples and says, “let’s go to the other side.” Then he (Jesus) decides to take a nap in the stern of the boat during the journey. And, as they were traveling, a huge storm arose and waves were crashing into the boat. It was treacherous. But Jesus was asleep on a cushion, not concerned in the slightest. You see, storms happened in that region on the Sea of Galilee. The cool air coming over the mountains would crash into the warm air coming off the Sea of Galilee (which was almost 700ft below sea level) and violent storms would breakout. It was common. Uncomfortable-dangerously-scary but common, nonetheless.

The disciples start freaking out and wake Jesus up and accuse Him of not caring that they were about to die. So Jesus rebukes the wind and speaks to the sea and there’s a great calm. Then Jesus looks at them and asks them “why they’re afraid and why they still have no faith (i.e., trust)?” For real, Jesus? It’s kind of obvious isn’t it?

I use to not really understand why He asked those questions. Because in my mind it’s like... duh, Jesus. Ummm... don’t you see the huge waves and don’t you see the boat filling up with water and don’t you see that we’re in danger of capsizing and dying out here in the middle of this huge body of water!? It seems like a a stupid question...

But see, it wasn’t a stupid question at all- it was actually a really good one. Because Jesus (who is God in the flesh) had told them earlier, “let’s go to the other side.” He didn’t say, “let’s go halfway and die out in the middle.” And to think that anything else (other than what He said was going to happen) was going to happen, was crazy. So that’s why Jesus wasn’t freaked-out because of the storm... because they were going to the other side no matter what they encountered along the way.

And that’s where I think we may ‘finally’ be getting it. We’ve been given an assignment by God (to come to Brazil as missionaries) that we’re trying to fulfill. The assignment was given but in the midst of the assignment there’s also gonna be storms along the way (literal and figurative). But the good news is that He’s with us. He’s not panicked or frustrated or scared or worried or _____________. He’s in control and He knows what’s gonna happen before it happens. So to get my panties all in a wad is futile and unnecessary because He’s with us. We just need to trust (i.e., have faith in what He’s asked us to do) and not put stock into all the negative things that we experience around us.

What about you? Have you ever freaked out in the midst of your journey (that God asked you to take) and wondered if He even cared (or noticed) that you were in peril? Because one thing’s for sure... He does know. And not only that- He cares and He’s with you. So just sit back and trust Him because it’s gonna be a wild ride: )

“Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble.”

                               Matthew 6:34

Just Chillin’ in the Boat with Jesus,

Jim

PS- the rain finally stopped as of the posting of this blog: )