The second week in July meant
it was time for Mom, my sister and me to go to Devil’s Lake State Park with my aunt
and uncle and cousins. In previous years, we had started camping on the weekend.
My uncle set the trailer and attached the screened porch, but this year we were
leaving in the middle of the week and my uncle wouldn’t be up until Friday.
Arriving at the south end of
the lake, we tumbled out to get camp set up. Mom and my aunt kept saying, “That
looks good; don’t you think?” They congratulated one another on a job well
done.
That night, after supper and
a campfire, we packed ourselves into the camper. The girls slept out in the
screen porch with the canvas sides up for the night; the boys slept on the
floor of the camper; my mom and aunt shared the bed. Around 11:00 it started to
rain. By midnight it was
pouring.
Somewhere around 2:00 one of
the girls woke up and said, “Ma, my bed is getting wet.”
“Roll over and go back to
sleep. You’re fine.”
“But I’m getting wet.” she
repeated.
Just then the stakes let go. The
whole roof fell down and gallons of water poured into their sleeping area. The
stakes had not been driven in deep enough and the canvas had not been stretched
tight enough. Instead of shedding the rain, many gallons of water had pooled
above the girls like a mini-Devil’s Lake.
Outlined by lightning,
taunted by thunder, in the midst of the pouring rain, my mom and aunt hammered
stakes into the mud and re-secured the tent lines. They raised the canvas roof
on slightly bent poles and then stayed up to occasionally push on the center of
the roof to push the rain off.
In the morning, as the sun
came up over the bluff, a rainbow appeared. “Well,” my aunt said, “The worst is
over. No one drowned, and God says it’s going to be a nice day.”
Prayer
Lord, your great bow
continues to appear in the sky reminding us of your relationship with us and
your care for us amid the seas of Chaos. Thank you. Amen
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