By Joe and Carol Hall

The rains started innocently enough early that Saturday morning of the first day of May, and who in his wildest dreams could foresee that the sleepy streams that meandered through shady neighborhoods and the lazy little creeks that barely broke over rocks would come churning out of their banks, spilling into our lakes, then our rivers, rising up to take lives and wreak utter havoc in the angry spectral form of a flood? A Flood. That we Middle Tennesseans were to see sights we had never seen before?

Spellbound like so many others, we watched the local news with growing shock, sadness and horror. Meanwhile, the rain continued to fall. On the heels of flash flooding in outlying neighborhoods came the surreal sight of our mighty rivers leaving their beds and rushing out into our downtown streets and business districts and comfortable residential areas, rising so fast that people were swept away or trapped in their homes. Smaller streams raged as ferociously, engulfing whole neighborhoods, taking out water, electricity and phone systems.

We watched as our fellow Middle Tennesseans struggled to escape their ruined homes with the clothes on their backs, rescued by police or firemen or sudden Samaritans. Everyday citizens became heroes, wading, swimming or putting in their boats to save the lives of their neighbors. We learned of the couple of our acquaintance who lost their lives as they headed to church, and of our elderly family members who watched helplessly from high ground as the Cumberland River rose, stealing into their yard, slowly covering their vehicles, creeping horribly higher and higher, taking away all

that they owned. In this way thousands of people lost everything. Where do we, as onlookers, begin to comfort, to minister?

Being in the golf industry, we also were made aware of the driving ranges and golf courses across the Middle Tennessee region that felt the wrath of Mother Nature. While most have been able to dry out and reopen, a few have not, and some cannot, at this point at least, due to the utter loss of buildings and equipment.

The rains may have stopped, but the waters kept rising, strewing mud and debris and felling trees across several courses. And when the floodwaters receded the rebuilding began. Many are rebuilding more than a business—they are rebuilding their lives. They want to get back to earning their living, yes, but beyond that, they want to somehow again find a foothold on life.

But the human spirit is mighty, and it shall prevail.