The event below took place on the 19th of December 2008. Time – 7-9pm.
It was raining. Heavily. I am about to have a practice session for 3rd service that coming Sunday at 8pm, and it’s already pouring heavily. I wanted to go to a nearby cyber café to read manga, as the internet at home has run out of “credit”. I thought the rain will die down soon. However, it didn’t prove to be the case. It started raining around 6.30pm, and at 7pm, it’s still raining that heavily. I decided not to care anymore. We (me and my brother) managed to get into the car, but getting ourselves half wet during the process.
We arrived at Coffee Net. The rain was not as bad. We entered the CC. When I tried to access to the webpage of the manga however, I couldn’t open it. Frustrated, I decided to leave the CC. I received two messages, one each from Rena and A.Mariane, to fetch her and A.Mariane’s sons, Samuel and Lukas, respectively.
The real part of this story begins. Apparently the reason both of them asked me for that favour was: 1) Rena does not want to walk in the rain. 2) A.Mariane was stuck in a traffic jam and was afraid that she might not make it in time to pick up her boys for the practice. However, the traffic jam that she was stuck in was no ordinary traffic jam. The area where the jam is (overhead bridge near Ipoh Garden East-Jusco) was flooded. She warned me about it, and I took heed. What I did not know however, was that that area wasn’t the only area that was flooded. In fact, almost half that area where I was was flooded! No thanks to that, I couldn’t take the usual route home, because it was flooded as well. THE WHOLE STRETCH for crying out loud. I had to use an alternative, but it was flooded as well. I looked on as other helpless cars try to make their way through the flood.
I was only down to one last option, but guess what? It’s flooded as well! “Gracious me”, I said to myself. This time however, there is no escape. I have to go through the whole stretch of flood. I had no other options. I also had no time, as I was already late for my practice. I took that road.
I'll have you know, I've NEVER, EVER, been so scared in my life. I mean, being a guy and all, so called “braver” gender, this has nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, to do with macho-ness AT ALL. This is like, machine vs nature. On paper, machine looks like the favourites, but for the moment, nature is totally giving machines a run for its money. For nature to win, it must unleash it's ultimate. Fortunately for me, it didn't happen. I didn't want it to happen anyway. I'm scared enough.
My dad always taught me that whenever you are caught in a situation like this, NEVER EVER (this is also a tip for you readers) release the acceleration pedal, because the moment you do, the car will stall. I kept that in my head as I was driving through. However, as I was slowly driving, I realize the car was slowing down. I accelerated, but the meter went down instead of going up. “No shit”, I though as I desperately tried to make my way through the flood. I prayed at the same time, that God will guide my through. After all, I just came back from a camp which was about believing. I applied it, and continued driving.
At long last, I made it through. The car did not stall, and I went on to Samuel's. His housing area was also flooded, but praise God he warned me about it, and I picked him and his brother somewhere else. We then made our way to church.
On the way, we found out that other areas were flooded as well. An area was flooded so badly, that the firemen had to come to pump out the water. Praise God once again, that the road I was taking to church was not flooded. Managed to pick up Rena, and went to church.
Moments after arriving, I got a call from Pei-Qin asking whether the practice has started. It seems that the apartment where she was at that moment was flooded as well. She wanted to wait for her dad to come back and pick her up, only to find out that her dad was also stuck in a traffic jam as well. Jian, who was there as well, decided for a “rescue mission”, and the both of us went to pick her up. However, when we arrived, the entrance to the apartment was flooded as well. To cut the story short, Pei climbed over a wall, and we managed to take her to church.
Summary – I just want to praise God for what happened that day. Even though the situation seemed dangerous, and I was freaking out, God showed that He was there to protect all of us. ALL GLORY BE UNTO HIM!
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