Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts

Friday, August 23, 2013

Prequel to next week's anniversary of the Isaac flood. A look at the peculiarity of Water

Picture courtesy of staticflickr
As many of you know, on that wretched night of August 28th, 2012 our home flooded.  The hurricane force winds of Isaac blew for nearly two days in a direction packing Gulf water through Lake Pontchartrain and spilling into Laplace.  We fought it all day, but water is hard to stop. Needless to say, a mere 12 inches of water in my home ruined a lifetime of work.


But water is a very peculiar thing.  From a scientific stand point, it breaks all the rules.  Water is the only molecule that exist in all three states of matter (gas, liquid, solid) naturally.  Water is the only thing that expands when it freezes.  Thus making it the only molecule that gets lighter as a solid.  That's how ice floats.  Pure water is odorless, tasteless, and close to colorless, minus a hint of blue. The strange science of water is endless.


Then there is our relationship with water.  We are made up of mostly water. (somewhere between 60 and 72  percent)  Humans can't go more than three days without water.  Good thing water is so plentiful, right?  Wrong.  Water covers over 70 percent of the Earth but only 2 percent of that is drinkable.  Isn't odd that we are so dependent on water for life but it also can kill us by drowning? We depend on water to evaporate, rise into clouds, and travel thousands of miles to fall and make our food grow.  We depend on water to float our goods to and from other communities. Humans claim to be able to harness the power of water because we've built a few dams in the world.  But let the hurricanes blow or the ocean floor tremor and you'll see just exactly how little control we have over the waters. We need water to cleanse our bodies of dirt, impurities, and microscopic bugs that can make us ill. Some of our favorite recreations are in bodies of water.  Three years ago my family was able to go white water rafting.  It was beyond thrilling!  Water is critical to every facet of life.


Glass of Water by wikimedia.
It's only fitting that we Humans have such a connection with water.  See, we were created different. Unlike the animals and other living things on this Earth, we have a conscious and a soul.  We seek out the Higher Power that created us.  The true power of water is that it's peculiarity points out the fact that we are not some cosmic accident.  God created this rule breaking water to exemplify the fact that there was a Intelligence in play when He set us on this watery ball.  Every one of those strange facts that I listed above falls into our favor.  If water only broke half the rules, we could not exist.

And yes, despite our flooded house, I see God in the simplest glass of water!