The World According to Noah

Written for the April 2007 update from my time in Camden, NJ.
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“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.”

The day I returned from Russia, Camden and much of the Northeast were hit with a remarkably heavy rainstorm. My plane did a few figure eights before landing, but we made it okay. Two of my trains were detoured on buses because of downed trees on the tracks. At 11pm, I finally made it home to discover that our basement had a good three inches of puke-colored water from wall to wall. We decided to shut the door and wait till morning.

Dealing with the aftermath of the “springs of the great deep bursting forth” ended up being the story of the week. I enjoyed the challenge of playing amateur plumber and rigging sump pump hoses out basement windows, but the thrill died when it got to carrying boxes full of wet books and later 20-gallon shop vacs full of water up stairs when our worksite flooded for a second time. Things like this are always great for giving me a little perspective, though – occasionally I need a reminder that life here was never supposed to be easy. Some added perspective came when Brent’s bike was stolen (they broke the U-lock) out of our back shed. How can I complain about three inches of water and some wet books when Hurricane Katrina’s recovery will take decades? How can we complain about stolen possessions when poverty has robbed the people of Camden of their safety, educations, freedoms, and futures? I will always have it good. I will always be blessed – solely because of circumstances out of my control like where I was born, who my parents are, and the color of my skin.

Like Noah, though, somehow I have to believe that I was chosen for this task for a reason. I’m more than lucky, but I can’t let my privilege drive me into guilt or apathy. I’m here to do what I can – to weather the storm – because through it I think God has a lot of beauty to reveal.

May the floodgates of heaven open up on you all,
Devon