rescue

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Weathering the Walk: After Record Rain

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It is difficult to walk in the mud that covers an Oso sad town.

Glacial grief in the valley of the shadow of Slide Hill.

The search-and-rescue crew walks single file,

Mud suctions every step.

Trying as they might not to sink up to their waists,

Throwing down plywood to create walkways

Slowly moving muck, as heavy as fresh concrete,

Electronic detectors, beeping.

Hoping to find someone that found a bit of air.

But … when they discover human remains,

Working feet stop and the silence is absorbed by the mud.

Then a chorus of chainsaws resume.

 

Key words rearranged from article and source of photo:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/sifting-through-the-wall-of-earth/article17727555/

 

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Hanging onto Slim Hope…Feet in the Air

 

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After a monsoon in 2013, a boy dangled from a power line before diving into an overflowing Ganges River.  Allahabad, India

 

http://www.philipchircop.com/post/71403192364/images-from-2013-a-boy-dangling-allahabad

Photo: Sanjay Kanojia/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images, Source:New York Times

 

See also:   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346033/India-Floods-2013-Rescuers-pull-bodies-River-Ganges-mud-left-landslides-death-toll-monsoon-flooding-northern-India-rises-nearly-600.html

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Calling out to God to Rescue your Feet

Praying from the MESSAGE version of The Book of Psalms: 

God! God! I am running to you for dear life; the chase is wild. If they catch me, I’m finished (7:1, 2). God! Please hurry to my rescue! God, come quickly to my side (70:1). God, give grace, get me up on my feet (41:10). I run for dear life to God, I’ll never live to regret it. Do what you do so well: get me out of this mess and up on my feet (71:1, 2). Make a show of how much you love me so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed, as you, God, gently and powerfully put me back on my feet (86:17). I’m feeling terrible—I couldn’t feel worse! Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember (119:25)?

I waited and waited and waited for you. At last you looked; finally you listened. You lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. You stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip (40:1, 2)?

When I run to you God, you save me (37:40). You did everything you promised, and I’m thanking you with all my heart. You pulled me from the brink of death, my feet from the cliff-edge of doom. Now I stroll at leisure with you in the sunlit fields of life (56:12, 13).

I bless you, God! I give you a thunderous welcome! Didn’t you set me on the road to life? Didn’t you keep me out of the ditch (66:8, 9)? Yes, because You are my refuge, You the High God my very own home, evil can’t get close to me; harm can’t get through the door. You ordered your angels to guard me wherever I go. If I stumble, they’ll catch me; their job is to keep me from falling (91:9–12).

I said to myself, “Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings. Soul, you’ve been rescued from death; Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears; and you, Foot, were kept from stumbling” (116:7, 8).

God, you make everything come out right; you put victims like me back on my feet (103:6). Blessed be you Lord – day after day you carry me along (68:19). Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength (138:2, 3). Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps (49:7).

 

Sandhu, T.J. (2013). Walking with God: Praying through footwork metaphors in scripture. Unpublished manuscript.