Texas has been going through a serious drought, the worst in many years.
Back in the 1950s we had a bad drought. Stories have been told of how back then South Texas ranchers would use blow torches to burn the thorns off prickly pear cactus so the cows would have something to eat. The grass was long gone and when the cows would hear the sound of the torches they would come running, knowing the sound meant food.
Today many ranchers have had to sell all their cattle, they have nothing to feed them. The large round bales of hay are expensive and few and far between. God bless those Baptists from other states who have trucked some donated hay into Texas. Farmers have watched their crops dry and wither away. Many trees have died; it’s amazing that any un-watered trees have survived the drought. A meteorologist recently said this part of Texas would need 15 to 20 inches of rain just to catch up.
As the old saying goes, “It’s so dry the Baptists are sprinkling and the Methodists are using a damp rag.”
B. H. Carroll, founding president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was known as an eloquent preacher. He knew well the Texas droughts of the late 1800s. He described it well:
“I have witnessed a drouth in Texas. The earth was iron and the heavens brass. Dust clouded the thoroughfares and choked the travelers. Water courses ran dry, grass scorched and crackled, corn leaves twisted and wilted, stock died around the last water holes, the ground cracked in fissures, and the song of birds died out in parched throats. Men despaired. The whole earth prayed: ‘Rain, rain, rain. O heaven, send rain.’ Suddenly a cloud rises above the horizon and floats into vision like an angel of hope. It spreads a cool shade over the burning and glowing earth. Expectation gives life to desire. The lowing herds look up. The shriveled flowers open their tiny cups. The corn leaves untwist and rustle with gladness. And just when all trusting, suffering life opens her confiding heart to the promise of relief, the cloud, the cheating cloud, like a heartless coquette,* gathers her drapery about her and floats scornfully away, leaving the angry sun free to dart his fires of death into the open heart of all suffering life.” -B. H. Carroll, founding president of SWBTS.
O Lord, please send us rain.
-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, September 14, AD 2011.
* Coquette - a woman who endeavors to gain the admiration and affections of men for mere self gratification; a flirt. -Living Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language; 1980.
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I hate to see this happening. Is there any prediction of the draught going away? Will the 15 to 20 inches be coming anytime soon?
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't look like it. Seems meteorologists are predicting continuing drought for the time being.
ReplyDeleteWe had about a half inch or a little more of rain last week (thank the Lord!). But we need much, much more rain to get back to normal. So continue to pray for rain.
David R. Brumbelow