Flood disaster includes 'serendipity moments'

By Marta W. Aldrich*

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (UMNS)--In flooded-out Cedar Rapids, United Methodists are talking about "serendipity moments"--those times when God offers small encouragements and assurances to people in unexpected ways.

The encouragements take many forms. A church team from Ohio had planned a mission trip to Virginia but, when housing arrangements fell through at the last minute, ended up going to Iowa instead. A United Methodist pastor, whose Cedar Rapids church was flooded, discovered that the waters stopped rising right at the foot of the sanctuary cross hanging on the wall, so he "took up his cross" and carried it to safety.

The Rev. Beth Straw is pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, one of three Cedar Rapids, Iowa, churches badly damaged by severe flooding in recent weeks. A UMNS photo by Marta W. Aldrich.

The Rev. Beth Straw's serendipity moment came Friday, June 13, after the Cedar River crested almost 20 feet above flood stage and filled the basement and first-floor sanctuary at St. James United Methodist Church. Thousands of homes in the surrounding neighborhoods also were partially submerged.

Opening The Upper Room devotional guide, the Scripture for the day was Isaiah 43:2-3: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; … the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you … For I am the Lord your God … your Savior."

The Scripture's placement, said Straw, was not by chance.

"I preached on that the following Sunday," said Straw, who moved St. James' worship services to St. Marks United Methodist Church, also in Cedar Rapids.

Straw said the Holy Spirit put that passage "way ahead of time in The Upper Room … (so that) these people will know they will not be overcome--that God is with them."

Launched in 1935, The Upper Room is a publication of Upper Room Ministries at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, which provides tools for spiritual formation and development.

The writers of the daily meditations are Christians of various denominational and non-denominational backgrounds, both laity and clergy, and come from around the world. The writer of the June 13 devotion, called "Depending on God," was Philip Polo of Nairobi, Kenya.

The Upper Room is translated into 40 languages and circulated in more than 100 countries.

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.