Reflections On Our Flooding - Victor Issa

Victor Issa is one of the top sculptors in America today and is known for his remarkable ability to make bronze appear alive.  He attended Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska at the time I was there.  His studio is in Loveland, Colorado where I lived for 8 years.

Last week, Colorado experienced terrible flooding.  The Loveland area where Victor lives and works was very hard hit as was Estes Park where he has his Living Bronze Gallery.  He wrote an article about the flooding that I found very meaningful and I want to share it with you.

Reflections On Our Flooding
by Victor Issa

In some parts of the Front Range, life is returning to semi normal. At home and at the studio, we were only affected by temporary road closures, delayed work and delayed deliveries.

Yet others were stranded, placing them in great danger, losing property, and some did lose their lives. Some reports have documented the loss or damage to over 18,000 homes, and up to 8 lives have been lost due to this enormously destructive storm. All loss brings pain and sadness, and we join our prayers with others for all those suffering at this time.

While I am deeply grateful that the flooding had little effect on us, I must admit a discomfort at the tendency to offer a blanket: "Thank God" for such outcomes. Before you become angry or dismiss my comment, please read on. I believe this is an important matter.

My knowledge of, and faith in God has never been deeper or stronger in my life. I know beyond a doubt that God is intimately interested in me, and cares about my entire being as He does about all His created beings. What concerns me is this. If I am so quick to thank God for preserving and protecting me and my property, wouldn't I become as likely to blame Him for not protecting my friends and neighbors, those who experienced great loss? If He is to be attributed credit for the good, doesn't that also leave Him open for blame? Is this where the expression "Acts of God" came from? For example, where does the credit or blame lie when we make conscious or unconscious choices regarding the risks we chose to take?

The facts are always a bit more complex and nuanced for a simple reason; they involve humans with free will. We are always making choices, taking in as many factors as possible based on our own life experiences and on what we learn from the experiences of others. Those choices bear fruit. And even then, there are events that apparently occur completely out of the realm of our choices, with blessed or harmful outcomes.

We speak of God as Love, which is completely true. But love cannot exist in the absence of free will. And when free will is involved, unlimited variables enter the picture. While this is a HUGE risk for God, it was the only way He/Love can operate.

So where do these disasters come from, and why do they affect some but not all?

The answer is multi faceted. To begin with, I believe this is a "broken" world. It is not what God created or what He intended. It "broke" when His creation exercised their free will and explored rebellion. The long term plan includes redemption and repair on all levels. But in the meantime, humans are still involved and in charge on a daily basis making billions of decisions that affect their own lives and the lives of others on this planet.

While God is all powerful, His power is limited. There are things He can never do. He cannot lie. He cannot control my will without my consent. And He cannot force me to love Him. This is the ultimate beauty of God. He makes room for me to think, to be, to chose and to love. I can see destruction caused by a broken world (including the natural world) and I can understand that He is faithful to whom He is, Loving enough to take the biggest risk of all, risking the universe over the principle of Love that cannot be stopped or changed.

There is no denying that God has and does intervene directly into events that are actually miraculous. We don't always understand what is behind the inexplicable, but I have learned that trusting in, and surrendering to God (after we have made the most informed choices) can reap great rewards even in the presence of great disasters. (All things work together for good...)

There will come a time when destruction, death and disease will end. He will say: "It is enough!" The greater purpose of vindicating the Character and Nature of God against the accusations of the fallen angel will be fulfilled. This fallen angel, who introduced the rebellion through his pride and his choices, will be convicted and destroyed along with those who chose to believe him. Then this planet will be recreated as originally intended, and never shall the universe be visited by rebellion again, for its fruit has been completely revealed to be nothing but destructive.

My part moving forward? Seek a closer, more honest walk with God, relieve suffering where it visits my world, and continue to grow in faith, grace, gratitude, compassion and love. And I chose to live daily with the hope of the complete restoration of all things, and an eternity in close relations with God, and with all who seek the same.

Wishing you peace in your hearts, and a deeper glimpse into God's heart of Love through all things.

© Victor Issa
September 21, 2013

Colorado Floods

Growing up, I attended school in Longmont, Colorado.  Over the last couple of days Longmont has experienced what is being called a 500 year flood. The rising water forced neighborhoods to evacuate and major streets to close.   City officials have evacuated a dozen neighborhoods totaling 7,000 homes.

It is so sad to hear of all the devastation in the area, not only in Longmont but also in Loveland, Estes Park, Boulder, and many smaller towns such as Niwot, Lyons and Jamestown.  Having grown up in this area it has brought back many memories of my childhood.

I attended school at the Longmont, SDA Elementary School from first though eighth grade. The school was a two room school with the first through fourth grades in one room and the fifth through eighth grades in another. Here is a photo of the upper grades taken during my sixth grade year. I am in the farthest corner just barely visible.


Here is my school photo from that year. It must have been taken at the beginning of the school year as I am still sporting my "summer" haircut.


We never lived in Longmont, but did our shopping there. One of the things that I remember about Longmont was the Great Western Sugar Factory. On our drive from Frederick, and later after we moved, Erie, I could always tell we were getting close to Longmont when I could see the gleaming white silos of the Sugar Factory. The factory was the first thing you would see if you were coming into Longmont from the east.



The Sugar Beet industry was a major force all along the front range of Colorado from the turn of the century up until the late 70's and early 80's. Why did beet sugar in Colorado mostly fade away? The common reasons I've read are competition from cheaper cane sugar abroad, and other sweeteners such as corn syrup. My first job out of high school was working for Dalton Truck Sales near Longmont. They specialized in taking old 2 ton trucks and refurbishing them fitting them with special made Sugar Beet Boxes to haul sugar beets to the factories. These trucks were only used for the harvest season, but were needed to haul the beets. I have painted many sugar beet trucks similar to the one in this photo.


My favorite place in Longmont was the Public Library. During the time I was in school I read just about every book in the kids section of the library. I still remember being disappointed that I was only allowed to check out three books at a time. I also didn't understand why I couldn't check out books from the adult section on my kids library card. I would take my three books home and have them read in a day or two and then begged my Mama to take me back to the library. I kept a flashlight handy for reading after I was supposed to be asleep. The Longmont Public Library was my access to knowledge.



As I got older I loved shopping at the Woolworths Store. There is just something about a Woolworths. One of my favorite singers, Nanci Griffith, wrote a song about Woolworths titled "Love at the Five and Dime". She tells the story of growing up in Austin, Texas and changing buses in front of the Woolworths store. she said that she had just enough time get a vanilla Coke, dig through the record bin, wink at the boys and get back on the bus. My favorite thing to do at Woolworths was digging through the discount record bin. As a kid Woolworths was the only place where I had access to music. I have a large and eclectic music collection and I can say that it all started at Woolworths.




There are so many memories that I have of those years of going to school in Longmont. The Dairy Queen and A&W Root Beer Stand were favorite places for a special treat. We shopped at Ranch Wholesale Supply and The Corner Pantry. Our bank was First National Bank, and they always gave a little box of gum with two Chiclets inside to each of the kids in the car.


Longmont will always hold fond memories of my childhood. The last time I was able to go back and look around was in 2009. The town is no longer the sleepy little town that it was when I was going to school there. It has grown exponentially. While we were there I went by the old school grounds. The building that I went to school in is still there, and really hasn't changes much except there is now a gymnasium attached at the back of the building. I would hate that, because I remember spending a lot of time looking out the full wall of windows that lined the back of the school and daydreaming.



I will be going back to Colorado in a couple of weeks for my wife and I's 40th High School Reunion. It has been four years since we have been back for a visit.  The last time we were in Colorado, we stopped by Campion Academy where Gina and I went to High School. The campus looked pretty much the same. Our visit brought back lots of memories. I remembered the beautiful blonde that walked the halls and didn't know that I even existed. We both worked at Harris Pine Mills. I would go back to the area where she worked during break time. She thought that I liked her friend. I was so painfully shy that I never had a date during High School. I finally got up the nerve to ask her to to march with me during graduation. We started dating during the summer. This is a picture of the girl that captured my heart.



Here we are once again walking the halls of Campion Academy. We found our class picture on the wall and took our picture by it.



From Campion we drove into Loveland and walked the downtown streets. After we were married we lived in Loveland for six years. The downtown area still looked about the same, but the old buildings have been well maintained and the shopping is now antique stores and art gallerys. Sculptures now line the streets. From Loveland we drove up the Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. On July 31, 1976, while we were living in Loveland, a violent rainstorm sent a rampaging wall of water through Big Thompson Canyon. The massive flood killed 144 people. Gina and I along with my family had been picnicking along the banks of the Big Thompson River that afternoon. When it started to rain we packed up and drove home through heavy rain. We didn't know there had been a flood until the next morning. The drive up the canyon brought all those memories flooding back.



One of the areas that is flooding this year is the Big Thompson Canyon.  Once again the area has been devastated.  Here is a photo from yesterday.

My prayers are with all those affected by these floods.