Published by In late June of 1972 on a Wednesday evening we went to church, as was our custom. At the time we were being fed in a church near Fayetteville PA, nearly 50 miles from our home in Weiglestown (Near York, PA).
We started our hour plus trip home from church some time about 9:30 PM. It was raining hard most of the day and there was a lot of water everywhere. We hadn’t seen a weather report and had no idea what was happening. East Berlin, PA (a town about 12 miles from home) sits in the fork of two creeks. We crossed the creek at the west end of the town on route 234 but the creek that parallels the road at the east end had flooded the road. Our way home was blocked. East Berlin sits some 20 – 30 feet higher than the road to the east. We took route 194 south from the center to town toward Route 30, away from the creeks. Near the East Berlin fairgrounds the water was going across the road about 3-4 inches deep, something I had never seen in this area before. But the reality of the situation didn’t hit us till we got to near the Thomasville airport on Route 30 and found the water deep enough that cars had problems getting through.
We slowed, followed them and got through. At the other side of the small creek that was now flooding several hundred yards of the road my wife asked what it meant when the one gage on the dash went to D. It was the Ammeter, the electrical system of the car had pretty well grounded out in the water but it kept running. Shouldn’t have kept going, but it did. Isn’t God faithful? We went on and were soon about 2 miles from home but we were faced with a bridge at the Stone Mill on route 74 that was covered with over 2 feet of water. I am now glad it was deep enough that we knew we could not make it, had we tried to cross it would have been a disaster, an poorly paved sewer construction ditch across the road just past the bridge was washed out by the flood. We would have been caught in a low area between the ditch and the bridge, in water too deep to get out and walk, a very dangerous situation. We tried to find a way around the flooded bridge but failed. It was approaching midnight, I was tired. I finally decided that if I kept driving in the dark with that amount of water we were going to get into trouble. Call it Godly wisdom. With two children under four years old in the car that was not prudent.
We parked in the Shiloh Lutheran Church parking lot near the bridge. The lot is at least 40 feet in elevation above the water. We considered this a safe place. We were hoping that the water would soon go down. Later that expectation looked pretty dumb. It was still raining hard and had been almost continually since early in the day. At about midnight we realized that we had little for the kids to eat and plotted a course to the only place we knew would be open and had no low areas to it, the Dunkin Donuts on Market Street. This was in the days before there was a convenience store on every third corner. We got several pints of milk, OJ, and some donuts. One thing we knew, kids can live on strange things if they must. We decided to sit at Dunkin Donuts for a while but the rain got heavier. With water running across the parking lot about 2 inches deep we were concerned about it not being high enough or the road to higher ground being cut off so we went back to the church and slept in the car. This spot was high ground and had a clear road to higher ground and the fire company that served as an emergency shelter.
At first light it was still raining but not nearly as hard. We started down a back road and found the only alternative we knew to get home was covered with more than 6 feet of water at one place. The roof of the bath house at Zimmerman’s pool was barely out of the water. We turned to go back to the church with the option of going to the Shiloh Fire Hall which was on higher ground than the church and according to the radio, was being opened as a shelter. As we made the one turn to head back a guy in a blue Volkswagen at a stop sigh waved to us. I stopped. “Are you trying to get to Mayfield?” It was surprising because that was our development and street name. “Yes.” “Follow me.”
We followed. He took us down a road we didn’t know and we came out on route 74 about a half mile on the other side of the flooded bridge. He turned right toward Dover. We turned left toward home. We had bypassed the flooded bridges.
At our home we found that the water had flooded the patio, it had a small amount of mud washed on it, but had not gotten high enough to get across the doorstep about 1 inch higher. God took care of our home while we were gone, in all probability better than we could have had we been there. About an hour after we got home the local media was reporting the bridge that we crossed following the Volkswagen was closed.
God had provided for us that night more than a few times that night. Several portions of Route 30 were closed shortly after we passed them. The road at the fairgrounds also closed about the same time as Route 30. We seemed to be only a short distance ahead of the problem. And we seemed to have had guidance to do the right things at the right time. Our trip for food was made no more than an hour before that would have been cut off. The streets to that area were closed due to high water shortly after we drove them.
Who was in the Volkswagen? I don’t know. I never have seen it since. We lived there more than 12 years after that day. We returned to the area after being in Illinois for three years and have now spent 17 more years within three miles of the old house. I never have seen the guy or the car. But for that one moment in time, God sent him our way. How did he know where we were going? I don’t know. Was he an angel? I don’t know. I am sure that an angel can drive a blue Volkswagen. And God can send an angel or he can direct someone here to meet our needs. Does it matter? Not to me.
Maybe I should tell you a little more about that night, Wednesday June 22, 1972. A hurricane named Agnus came up the east coast, the eye passed just east of us in the evening with the heavy rain belt over us. When the eye got just north of us it turned west about 2 hours, turned south, turned east and then north. It passed over us twice and the main rain areas of the storm were over us from late afternoon till the next morning. And we were out in it and safe. God is good, all the time…..
Isa 43:2-4
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
(KJV)
We are precious in his sight if we make him our focus.
