Shade Tree Wisdom 9/30/08

Fresh pictures and stories about IKE surface almost daily. Here is one that I would list as a miracle of survival. Two men opted to remain in their cottages on Bolivar peninsula because they thought the storm was heading further south. They guessed wrong, and the storm caught them, swept them with much debris across the 14 mile East Bay, and landed them in Chambers county along with other trash from Bolivar cottages. One said he would never return to live on Bolivar peninsula unless it was in a motor home he could move at the first sign of a storm approaching.

Stories of death and destruction abound, and the aftermath and the cleaning and rebuilding will take years.

But we did note one article with a sort of positive spin on IKE. The storm surge, with its nearly 20 feet of salt water, flooded the low lying marshes and simply killed the invasive alien water hyacinth that have choked life from so many waterways, Chinese tallow trees, and some other stuff that had been making steady headway in destroying these marshes.

The affected areas will not hold clean water and aquatic vegetation required by the flocks of waterfowl that typically winter here. It will be hard for them. But in the long run, scientists who study marshes, say they will recover, and give management a chance to get ahead of invasive plants and not let them take over again.

In short, the ecosystem will be more diverse and better able to serve the purpose for which the Lord created marshes. Needed now is a good slug of rain to start washing away the salt.

There is always something if we look hard enough, isn’t there? What came to mind is that hymn that Ruth and I used as our wedding march. “So Nimm denn Meine Haende”. The music is the same in English. The hymn, and we used it as a closing hymn on Sunday, is “Lord, take my hand and lead me, upon life’s way.”

For me the words are true, “And when the shadows lengthen, and night has come. I know that You will strengthen my steps toward home. Then nothing can impede me, O blessed friend, so take my hand and lead me, unto the end.”

It is a prayer the Lord has kept for us, strengthened us during times of trial, blessed us so richly through the years. Indeed,
Though He giveth and He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh.
His the loving purpose solely,
To preserve them pure and holy.” LSB 725

So endeth the month of September.

GPD 9/30/08