Proud to be an Australian

But it’s raining again!
What a dreadful few weeks for Australia. Every state has experienced flooding to some degree and once more rain is sweeping across large parts of the country. Flood waters have already returned in some places and many other areas are anxiously waiting, hoping and praying their areas will not suffer again. Brisbane has been holding its breath as King tides also flow up the river.

The news about an area at least the size of Germany and France combined being flooded in Queensland has spread around the world’s media. Even our army is out there helping in the search for victims in one area and with the massive clean-up. Tens of thousands of the 2.2 million population of the capital, Brisbane, have been affected. Thousands of properties are ruined. In some areas the waters have not receded enough to start the cleaning up process and perhaps they may even be more fortunate than those who have. As the weather warnings come, many of those who have been able to start cleaning up will be now anxiously watching water creeping closer once more.

Perhaps the severe floods in New South Wales and Victoria have not been broadcast as much. A quarter of Victoria is already flooded and still the news of more areas come as the waters rush downstream. This is a “once in 200 years flood” in some places there. Water is pouring in from many small and large creeks and rivers from three states into the great Murray River that empties into the Southern Ocean. Oh, my mistake – all the waters from Queensland and northern NSW may takes weeks to arrive! My own island state, Tasmania, has also suffered in several areas to the west of us.

And so the saga continues. Stories abound of near death misses, of many heroes and heroines, but also of the stupidity of some who ignore warnings and risk not only their own lives but those of their rescuers. The saddest stories of course are those of love ones swept away, and the news that some bodies may never be found.

So much need, so much desire to help. But where and how can I personally help? Fund raising efforts are springing up throughout Australia. Which one should I support? That is the question now in many hearts. Of course we can pray, but we must also be there for those who have lost so much.

And so, here in our safe little cottage I type away, so thankful my family and friends are safe. My housework still needs doing. My garden badly needs attention. And this desk. . .! I doubt I will ever catch up on all that still needs to be done here. All I can do is take one hour, one day at a time and ask God what HIS priorities are for me right now in all that crowds into my days. May many bewildered, heart-broken Australians see God’s hand at work in their lives in these tough times.

And as both blessings and burdens rain upon me now and in the future, I am no different from many, many Australians in the flooded parts of this beloved country of mine. We cry, we pray, and we laugh, we pray. Or at least my heart’s desire is that as a nation we will turn to God not only during tough times like this, but each day, each hour as both burdens and blessings arrive.
How are the rains and rainbows in your life right now?

Proud to be a Queenslander

The past two days I have been riveted to the media coverage of the havoc being wrecked on my home state and especially my beautiful home town, Toowoomba.
Only a couple of weeks ago I was hearing reports of floods sweeping through central Queensland towns like Rockhampton, Emerald. Back in the 70's we ministered at a church in the city of Gladstone just 80 miles south of Rockie so quite familiar with that larger city. Then since christmas and especially last week, the heavy rains spread south down the eastern coast and many other towns were flooded and are still isolated. I have a niece and nephew with their four month old baby who were on holidays at Hervey Bay and are still marooned there until the flooded highways are open again. They live in Brisbane but could only watch from a distance like myself as that city of well over 2 million people became inundated. Fortunately their home is not in a danger zone of the floods.

This is the town of Dalby 50 miles west of Toowoomba which is on the eastern ridge of the Great Dividing Range and over 2,000 feet above sea level. The Darling Downs slopes away from the rolling hills of Toowoomba to the black soil plains out past towns like Dalby, Chinchilla, Condamine - all badly affected by the floods.

Until I was nine, I lived on our Dad's farm near a small community called Bongeen before we moved to live in a house in Toowoomba twenty miles away. Many members of my extended Pedler family are still farming large areas on the plains that are now affected by floods. I still haven't heard all the details of losses yet, but only yesterday my brother Stan told me the cotton crops and summer grain grops are ruined, but I am so thankful they are all safe.
After living for many years on Thursday Island at the tip of Qld just south of New Guinea, Stan moved south a few months ago and is now living in a farmhouse only a few miles from family and where he has been helping out from time to time. After christmas, the water came to within a couple of inches of the floor in the two front rooms of his house and only yesterday he told me the water was again creeping back up through the trees near the house. Dalby and other towns are now flooded for the second time in a couple of weeks.

I have scheduled a post on the International Christian Fiction Writers blog which will be published just after 7pm Australian Eastern time today and 12.05 am US Pacific time. I will not repeat it all here, but do have a look at it and especially the You Tube a writer friend sent me to use of just one horrific scene in Toowoomba. In a few brief moments a small drainage area becomes a raging torrent tossing cars around. I believe it was this East Creek responsible for sweeping away the woman and her son to their death from the street just at the top of the screen.

This morning the scenes of suburb after suburb in Brisbane and Ipswich inundated is simply unbelievable. Latest news is 12 dead, 74 missing and grave fears for two whole families - 11 people. 25 helicopters are again in the air this morning but do not believe many now still to be rescued, just found.
But because of that continuing drama there, the media focus has been taken away from so many other areas facing their own flooding problems. These are spread over vast areas of Qld and also northern New South Wales and parts of Victoria.
The drama can only increase as these volumes of water out in the west make their way down the inland river systems into the Darling, then the great Murray river before they plunge into the southern Ocean many, many hundreds of miles away from the Darling Downs.

And now I have to try and get my thoughts back to other things I should be doing - besides watching the TV coverage! While it has been raining steadily here in Tasmania so many hundreds of miles from Queensland, we can only watch and pray.
I am so proud to be still a Queenslander at heart and been reared in my favourite city, Toowoomba.