Rain, rain on my face
hasn’t stopped raining for days
my world is a flood
slowly I become one with the mud
but if I can’t swim after forty days
and my mind is crushed by the crashing waves
lift me up so high that I cannot fall
lift me up…
(when I’m falling)
lift me up
(I’m weak and I’m dying)
lift me up
(I need you to hold me)
and keep me from drowning again

from "Flood"
by Jars of Clay

Well, today was not the day we expected.

Writing from the comfortable Chiang Mai Hill Hotel, I can comfortably say that this was the best unplanned hands-on training we could have ever received for the cross-cultural experience. As I posted earlier today we awoke to a flood like none I’ve ever seen before.

The really ironic thing about this deluge is that our hotel happened to be in its epicenter (I know earthquake terminology; I’m not up on flood words). The electrical system for the Lanna Palace Hotel was destroyed when the basement filled with water. This tells me that a flood like this has not occurred before (or in some time.) We were told that the electricity situation would not be sorted out for 3 to 10 days at least.

Due to this fact, our conferece leaders decided we should move to "higher ground". They quickly determined that this strange flood we had awoken to was not affecting many parts of the city. We just needed to get there. Here we are again…struggling with getting from point A to point B.

Since we would need a large bus to move all of us (with our luggage) plans were made for a bus to come pick us up. The Lanna Palace is a large hotel (14 floors) so we were not the only patrons seeking asylum elsewhere.

The original plan (I think, it’s been many hours since then) was to have a time of worship and then to leave for the Chiang Mail Hill at around 12:30. We packed our bazillion bags and headed downstairs for an informal worship time.

The rest of the day was spent waiting for the bus to arrive and watching the adventure of flooded streets. Since there was no electricity there was no lunch buffet (bye-bye sushi bar) and since none of us have a kitchen in our rooms, none of us had any materials to make a meal. We had to improvise. We pooled all our junk and snack food and spread it amongst our group. It felt like Jesus feeding the 5000 (a little bit). My lunch consisted of the following:

2 power protein bars
a handful of Pringles
3-4 vanilla cookies
a handful of sticky rice crackers
3 small glasses of Coca-Cola
a handful of an Asian nut/coconut hybrid snack (that’s all I can say to describe it)

It sounds pretty healthy, I know, but I need to be in tip-top shape in this new culture.

Anyway, lunch came and went and we didn’t have the transport we needed. In fact, later in the day it actually started to rain again and like a true skeptic I thought, "We’re never getting out of here." It’s not that there weren’t vehicles driving on the flooded roads; there were many vehicles of all varieties trying their luck as motor boats. But the mystery bus we were hoping for never arrived. The water was very high and I couldn’t believe that all those jeeps and trucks weren’t capsizing in its depth and current.

To make this long story a little shorter…the roads were all closed. We had almost resigned to the fact that we would all have to stay there overnight and try our luck tomorrow. Supposedly the Army (of Thailand) was going to come and pick us up and transport us to this new hotel, but as it neared dinner time we knew that wasn’t going to happen. As our toddlers began to wind down, we wondered what we would do for dinner since there were no restaurants we could get to without a skiff… Things were looking pretty bleak.

If not for a pickup truck…

Yes, it was a simple white truck that showed up at the hotel. The pickup had ventured out earlier in the day and like Moses returning from the desert, this white truck would become the floating means of our salvation. We piled as many women and children (and cowardly fathers) into this truck as we could. (The end of the exhaust pipe was actually elevated and tied off so that it was suspended out of the water like a submarine’s periscope.) And with joy (and many very heroic Thai men pushing hard on our behalf), this simple white pickup ferried us the 6 or seven blocks to higher ground. It was amazing! One minute water was leaking up into the bed of the pickup soaking my sandals and the next we were on hard black pavement loading a hotel van that would transport us across town to a nice place to stay and eat buffet dinners.

I’m too pooped to say anymore. Those seven flights of stairs and lots and lots of heavy luggage have me pretty wiped out. (This time we’re on the second floor–can I get an Amen!?) I’m counting my blessings that we’re all here, we’re all safe, we’re all well-fed, and we’re all very dry and very fortunate to have aircon and electricity. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement. It was not the day we expected, but it has ended in renewed gratitude. Our God is bigger than floods and frustrations.

Tomorrow I can wonder if the Chinese Embassy was flooded…we’re supposed to go for our visas then. But that’s tomorrow; today has enough worries of its own, right? Check out the pics below…