The Good Lord

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There are quite a few miles between Albany and New York City. In fact, the land there is majestic and the people who live in the small towns are of hearty stock. Hardworking people who enjoy a much simpler life.

I wander into those parts for work every now and again and I thrill the locals by asking them what the hell they do for fun or why they would live so far off the beaten trail.

They love me in those parts as much as people love me in the rest of the world.

The creek really rose in some of those places. It's real strange too because Irene for those of us here in Buffalo was something to watch and follow without fully understanding. It didn't so much as drizzle here so it's hard to feel the devastation and pain.

Last night I was flipping around and I caught a news report on the devastation in a small New York town. A big woman was sorting through what was left of her house, which as far as I could tell was like the house made of sticks that went down during the huffing and the puffing.

"Before it hit, I prayed to the Good Lord to spare us," the woman said.

Obviously, the Good Lord didn't hear her.

She was sorting through the debris and was thrilled with a broken lamp that she pulled out from underneath a splintered door.

"We've lost everything," she said.

She was doing a lousy job of controlling her tears. I thought of all of the 'stuff' we have around our house. The mess that would be our lives. The hurt, the anger, the unforgiving aspects of my lovely personality.

I would be extremely pissed.

"We just have to go on," the woman said, "trusting that the Good Lord has a plan for us and knowing that He will provide."

Okay, let's recap:

The storm is coming in. Unknown lady prays the rosary. She closes her eyes believing with all her heart that she will be spared. She believes that she is in the Good Lord's favor, but she moves to higher ground, just in case.

The storm hits. Her house is blown to pieces.

This is where I'm lost.

Digging through the debris, she's back to the 'Good Lord will provide' part of our program.

Uh, what if He doesn't?

He sort of missed your entire: 'Spare my house routine.'

She picked up an old photo of her mother and tears filled her eyes.

It was good television to be sure. But it was so real, so sad, devastating.

"God won't let us down," she said.

I felt like laughing.

How could she be so faithful?

As they cut away from the lady and showed the overview shot of her shattered home, I did the only thing I could.

I prayed for her.


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