Come hell or high water...

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As I'm sure you all know, the waters are rising here in Budapest. I must say, it is truly awe-inspiring to see the Danube's power steadfastly striving for the top of its embankments here in the heart of the city.

Being from Louisiana, I know a thing or two about flooding. In the southern part of the state, water surrounds us year round in the form of countless rivers and bayous, the expansive Lake Pontchartrain, the eerily beautiful Atchafalaya Basin and of course, the mighty Mississippi River. Coupled with our notoriously flat terrain, it's not difficult to see why a few heavy raindrops can cause some serious flooding and flash flooding situations. We're familiar with the preparations - levees, canals, water pumps, spillways and endless supplies of sandbags - and sadly, we know all too well the pain and destruction that can remain after flood waters have subsided.

But in Louisiana, we're prepared for water. We grow up with water - the threat, the joy - and we learn to respect the volatility of a life lived only a few feet above sea-level. I love everything about water, and I have since I was a little girl. I love being in the water, I love being in a boat on the water and I love simply being around water - getting lost in frozen moments staring at swirling eddies, rolling waves or churning currents. It's as if everything around me gets caught up in that water too, tossing things around, so I can see things clearer. The water makes me feel at absolute peace.

So yesterday, I took some time to be at peace with the water. I found a place in the sun where I sat and just was - just existed. I saw a myriad of people walking along the bloated river on a pedestrian walkway running beside a now utterly drowned road, which normally separates the two - cameras, family photos, bikes, dogs, kids leaning over the edge under the watchful eye of fathers and mothers with fingers pointed toward the shrinking gap of light beneath the bridges; all of these lives centered, if for only a few minutes, around the same thing.

One thing is sure. Water brings people together, in lighthearted times and times of uncertainty. As with all emergency situations, I am humbled by and grateful for those people running in to help. Emergency responders, strangers, neighbors, working side by side to protect the people and places they love. In fact, there are so many people trying to lend a helping hand in Budapest that they are being turned away. While frustrating for the volunteers, it is definitely the better of the two options. These situations also bring together strangers living beyond the danger zone with those within it, by way of kind words, prayers and support. All of which, I feel, are absolutely necessary.

So to me, the magnificence of the moment is more than the power and grace of an uncontrollable natural force, it is also the opposing natural force of kindness, understanding and relationship standing strong against an uncertain and frightening future.

It's the power of humanity supporting one another, side by side in their time of need, come hell or high water.

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UPDATED: Those interested in supporting the flood efforts of the Hungarian Reformed Church Aid are asked to submit their contributions to the Reformed Church Aid's bank account (10702019-85008898-51100005).