A Stone’s Throw: Day 5 After

   Day Five, After May 29, 2022

   There’s a hot, dry wind blowing from the Gulf tonight … across the sandy plains, the mesquite and huisache brushland, over the rocky ridges of blackbrush, cenizo, and guajillo, then sweeping down into the rich farmland towards the oak and pecan river valley where resides the town of Uvalde. It is beautiful here, but it is dry. We are in a drought now and half of the county is considered Exceptional Drought, the worse possible distinction. 

   The wind teases us with its dryness. It does not cool. It was 100 degrees today, and no rain is in sight for the next seven days. So, the wind blows and strips the land of every moisture. Everything is dry. 

   Dry like our eyes, the tears cried out. 

   Dry like our hearts, numb with loss. 

   Dry like our arms, aching to hold our little ones. 

   It rained the night our children, our very hearts, left us. The tale of loved ones who reach heaven as the rain is released to the parched land soothed our pain. We knew they had made it, and the thought comforted us. But tonight, there is no rain to run down our faces and mix with our tears. No comforting thoughts. No relief as the wind howls into the dark. 

   And tomorrow the flowers at the various shrines will be dry and forlorn, petals pulled apart by the wind, candles blown out. We will have to face the day, and as the heat builds up again, we will wonder, “Does God see our pain? Does He care?” 

   And the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Yes, our God cares!

   The Disciple Peter told early Christians, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty Hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He CARES FOR YOU.” (I Pet 5:6-7)

   The people of Uvalde are on their knees in grief. We have been brought low in our sorrow. Humbled. Fearful and worried. But God says He will lift us up. He says to “cast,” a very energized action, our worries on Him. Throw them at Him! He can handle our worries because He cares for us. That in itself is unique in other world religions. An omnipotent God that cares? But our God says He cares! And He shows He cares for us through the Good He sends our way to counter the Evil in our midst and ease our anxieties. 

   And if there is one thing I have noticed this week, it is how much Good has come into our community. The personal and corporate sacrifices made to feed us, clothe us, comfort us — to provide for medical care, funeral preparations, immediate and future needs. No expense has been spared. There are the prayers prayed over and over for us. The love shared to the bereaved moms and dads, brothers and sisters, grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins – it is exactly what our town needed. 

   People want to do Good for us! They don’t know us. We are strangers to them. But our loss compels them to help. They cannot help but help us. They relate to our anguish. Empathize. And I think that is how God intended it. How He created mankind to come together for each other in times of great need.

   Consider this: You are at a beach. The waves roll in and out every day. You can scoop out the sand near the water’s edge and leave an empty hole, and then, amazingly, the space fills with water. Sometimes from the waves, all at once. Sometimes a gradual flow, taking its time, comes up from the ground. But the hole is never left empty. 

   We are never left empty! We have been scooped out, hollowed, and left barren. We are dry. Bone dry! Exceptional worse drought dry! But God has sent the Good to us to fill us again — to renew our spirits and lift us up. 

   Uvalde will get past this. The hot dry wind will stop. The rains will return, the wildflowers will bloom, and we will heal. Not today. Not this week. But in God’s due time. It will happen. That is His promise to us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

   Yes, one day we will cry joyful tears, our hearts will beat with hope, and our arms will be full. Our community will rebuild and prosper. Together we will fix this problem so that future Uvaldeans will never have to experience what we are going through now. 

   We will hold on to God because He alone makes us #UvaldeStrong