Excavators Doing Ballet!!

You probably never thought you would even see that sentence. The thought did not occur to me either until I watched it happen last Thursday night. I had been in the southern part of the country teaching and was headed towards home. Unfortunately the bridge was still under water - which was receding at least...but was also covered by a humongous log jam!

Once the water had gone down enough, calls were made and slowly machines started to appear and weave their way through the long, long lines of trucks and vehicles that were parked on both sides of the road, waiting for nature to allow us to continue. It had been an ALL DAY wait for some as the water had risen quickly in the morning, barely enabling the first bus of the morning to pass while the citrus truck right behind it was stopped!

Once in position, it was an amazing sight to me to see three excavators begin working to make the bridge passable again. One was digging rock from the river to fill in the hugs gap that had been washed away between the bridge and the shore. The other two positioned themselves on the bridge - and from opposite sides began to nip away at the log jam. Truly the log jam seemed to grow bigger once these massive machines got close to it. Entire trees were caught up in the firmly mashed entanglement.

It was a sight to behold as the operators of these mechanical creatures began their work. Dusk was settling in, and the lights from the long protracted arms scanned beautifully across the flowing waters or the river. I watched, as did everyone, as the large mouths attached to the end of the steel arms begin to bite away at the wooden mass blocking our way.

I realized at one point that the two men were in complete harmony and a beautiful sort of mechanized ballet was going on before me. I could almost hear the music in my mind as I observed each one, in synchronous motion, grab a bucketful of debris, swing to the opposite side of the river, dip slightly, drop their catch into the river and continue the arching movement to grab another chunk. I was surprised - and amazed and so glad, that these men had such skill. They were so good at what they did that it truly made it a joy to watch their work. The perfectly matched movements made this difficult work look so simple. The complete circles of the excavator arms brought about the wonder of this mechanical ballet! You should have seen it!

Now, maybe you think I had been sitting by the river watching the flood waters too long - maybe so. but truly, this was a moment of beauty in an otherwise challenging day. So, after much patience (what else would we do?!) we passed over the once flooded and completely blocked bridge at 10:00 pm, weary but happy to be on our way.

Thank You Lord for that moment - and for all the answered prayer of holding off the rain while the men and machines worked, and for keeping everyone safe in a rather complicated procedure, for keeping people safe as they hurriedly traveled home again (even the drunk ones!), for bringing out some of the starry host to encourage me while lightning flickered menancingly across the sky and dark clouds hovered low. Lord, thank You that you prompted me to pray these things, over and over, until the work was thoroughly completed. You are a great God, concerned for all the little moments in our lives!

Grateful for the 'ballet' and the "Conductor"!

~ Ray