Ed and Kenny Renner were on the other side of the Big Thompson River from their parent’s motel when the terrible flash flood struck on the evening of July 31, 1976. First, the bridge over to the motel was washed out. Then they watched in fascination as the waters rose quickly into the parking lot and floated all of the cars down the river like a big traffic jam.
Ed said: “The complete feeling of helplessness came over us as we watched the water continue to rise across the front of the motel. The rushing stream was just below the window sill. There was still flickering candle light in the living quarters where my mother and Kenny’s girl, Tammy, were staying. But when the water rose to about halfway up the windows, all went dark, and we just knew it was all over for Mom and Tammy. All we could do at that point was to stand there transfixed and pray to God for some miracle. From then on we watched the water as it went on over the top of the doors and windows on the bottom floor.
“What we couldn’t know until much later was that at that very moment our prayers were being answered. Mom had checked in a couple with two teenage children from Georgia just before this nightmare had started. She had asked the father (Mr. Henrich) to invite his wife and family inside while he registered for the room, to get them indoors and out of the downpour of rain. Minutes after his family had entered the motel office, they watched their camper float away.
Mr. Henrich had the presence of mind and strength to tear a hole in the ceiling of Mom’s bedroom with the aid of only a butcher knife and an old hammer (the only available tools for the moment.) He managed to make the hole in the ceiling, through ceiling tile, a double floor and a double carpet, into the unit on the second floor. It was just large enough to push Mom through, her cat Misty, Tammy and her dog, and his own family. By the time he was pulled up, the water was up to his neck.
Later, when the water had gone down far enough, Ed and Kenny worked their way across to the motel. There on the mountain behind the motel they found their Mother and Tammy and several others who had escaped from the second floor of the building. Yes, God had answered their prayers. He is a prayer-answering God.
And God can answer your prayers too, dear reader. One prayer which He will always answer immediately is, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” When the publican prayed this prayer in Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13), we read that he “went down to his house justified.”
The flash flood down the Big Thompson River that dark night in July, 1976, was a terrible disaster; however, God saved many people out of it. But the coming judgment for sin will be a far worse disaster for this world and those who are unsaved.
This is the day of grace; now is the time to be saved.
ML-05/08/1977