Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
"To everything there is a season..." Ecclesiastes 3:1
Where did summer go? It seems as though we were just celebrating Memorial Day and already it is time for the last hurrah of summer with the approaching Labor Day holiday. We experienced an especially hot and dry summer and now many are predicting an early fall. Everywhere I go I hear about the drought that holds most of the country hostage. Is there no end in sight? Will our land ever be green and lush again? I think so.
Recently I watched a show about the 1930s and was especially touched by the accounts of the Dust Bowl days. I have one older friend who told me that her mother would soak cloths in water and put them around the windows and doors trying to keep out the dirt. Another friend said he often walked to school dragging one foot along the edge of the street on his way to school because he couldn't see more than a foot or two ahead.
I once read about people in the Oklahoma panhandle who weren't as fortunate. Numerous people died from dust pneumonia or were driven from their homes by the extreme conditions. Many people loaded up what few possessions they had and went west looking for a fresh start. Some were too poor to leave and suffered to survive any way they could.
As a child I remember dust storms in the southern part of the state during the spring months. On many days you couldn't see across the street because the dust was so heavy. Along with the dust were the tumbleweeds rolling by like some old Western movie.
I don't know much about the weather patterns of El Nino and La Nina, but I do know what the word of God has to say about the drought. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land". We need to pray, but the rain comes in God's time, not ours. It is like the priest in the movie Rudy who said, "I know two things, there is a God and I am not Him".
Our area has experienced its share of droughts. In history we read how the grass was once so green and lush it reached the bellies of the horses. Even in the early years of our county people homesteaded and planted their crops and brought in their herds. They experienced many prosperous years until the first drought came along. Many homesteaders sold out or left and returned to their former homes with their hopes and dreams going along with them. For those who remained there were cycles of prosperity followed by despair brought on with recurring droughts.
Weather patterns come and go along with the seasons. Will it be cold and snowy this winter? Only God knows. May we move forward into fall with prayers and repentance and trust in God who knows there is a season and a time for everything and a purpose under heaven.
Debra Whittington is a longtime resident of Tucumcari. Contact her at: