A video is circulating online: Mekong volunteers using an overturned kitchen table pulled by a pickup to scrape a foot of mud out of a co-workers front yard in the aftermath of the worst flooding in Chiang Rai in over 60 years. The Kok River swelled to more than three meters above the river bank and left whole areas of Chiang Rai inundated with water and mud, affecting over 50,000 people. One Mekong worker described the scene, “There was so much mud! Cleaning mud from walls, floors, yards, clothes, appliances, and personal items was a lot of work, often with limited running water, but the spirit of togetherness was a real gift.” There will be months of clean-up to be done in light of the massive piles of ruined appliances, furniture, etc. lining the roads.
Many Christian organizations and churches have gone out multiple times with distributing food to flooded areas, and we’ve been helping others do post flood clean-up. The water and nasty brown layer of mud gets literally every place. Some parts of the city got 2 feet of water in their houses.The only upside to flooding is that it gives you the opportunity to show the love of Christ to your neighbors in practical ways.
Do pray that God will set those affected materially and physically back on “dry rock” as the waters subside, but more importantly may God set them on the True Rock, Jesus and as they do may they be able to sing a new song of praise to the one who controls the wind, rain and floods. (Psalm 40:1-3)
