Rivers

Sacramento is a fairly safe place to live. No one ever worries about tornadoes or hurricanes in the Summer, there are no volcanoes close enough to endanger our lives (we'd be lucky to get some ash fall), and the faults of California surround us but never near enough to scare us. The only earthquakes we feel are the rolling waves from big ones in the bay area.

So what are we afraid of here in the great California valley? Water; that which we long for all summer gives us reason to worry in the wet winters. Not every year is frightening in Sacramento, but occasionally, such as in some El-Nino years, we face the threat of swollen rivers bursting out of the levee systems and ruining our homes if not our lives.

The City was built where the Sacramento and American Rivers meet and join on their journey to the delta. Both rivers are moderated by dams, but the dams can only hold back so much water, so the rivers are filled.

I remember the flooding back in the early eighties, when a certain man I know told his family to pack up their bags and prepare to leave home in the event of the creek overspilling its banks and flooding the neighborhood. The thing is, the creek was at the bottom of the hill and the house was almost at the top of the hill. What does living near the possibility of a flood do to the mind? I've never really worried, myself. Maybe its the memory of playing in streets flooded with water when I was very young and the gutters clogged and backed up. When I was a kid I associated flooding with fun outdoors. Now I've seen suffering from flooding, but I still don't seem phased by worry.

Water, Water everywhere.

For a while, I think I will be focusing on water in our world, because, as you can imagine, water is more precious than gold in many parts of the world, and I think it is healthy to look at some of the situations people face.

We take water for granted in America, as I have griped about to an obnoxious degree. We don't even think twice about getting a drink from the tap,(or buying water bottles if we don't trust the tap), or washing dishes, or showering, or watering our lawns. However imagine living in a shanty town in a developing country.

Your water access would be something like this:

Grab a few jugs or buckets and find a spigot or well somewhere, some distance from your so-called house.

Have a minimum of clothes, because you can't afford more, and also because you must wash them by hand, either in a stream or a bucket from a small amount of water you collected at the previously noted spigot or well.

No flushing toilets.

Carry all sorts of parasites and abdominal troubles because the water is never quite what it should be in your part of town.

What's a lawn, anyway?


I watched a video last semester where a nomadic tribe in Africa only drinks one small glass of water each per day, because they want to make sure that their bodies are not dependent on more, since more isn't always available.

Enjoy your ready access to water, but remember to pray for those who's access is not so easy. And pray that they will know the Living Water as well.