Katrina...Losing Everything

Today I was watching the Discovery Channel during my off time for EBCE/internship(for all you who don't know what it is). Make fun of me all you want for being a nature nerd but sometimes I just like to see all the cool stuff God can do with simply his creation (and sometimes how mysteries are solved and other 'cool' stuff like that). Today was weird because the first story was about a man who had fallen over board in a storm with his friend, he was saved and hi friend died, but then it went straight into another story that moved me in a strange way. This was about a 12 year old boy named Donald, living in New Orleans. He was an inspiring new artist, drawing everything from realistic landscapes to unbelievable fantasy characters. His family (himself and his mother) did not own a T.V. or a radio and did not know about the incoming storm. The waves hit their house, breaking a window and instantly flooding the house. Neither knew how to swim and the water was rising. His mother frantically grabbed him and held on for dear life as the water rose. As they waited, Donald remembered saying to his mother, 'we're not going to make, it we're going to die'. Moments later his mother's grip became loose, and he watched her slip down into the water. He watched his own mother drown to death not knowing how to save her. All he wanted to do was die that second with her, so he let go of the light he was holding onto, and did not take a breath before diving down into the water. He held his mouth closed for as long as he could. He began to black out and remembered seeing himself in heaven, with his mom. Then a picture came into his mind, 'given to him by his mother', it was the way out. He pictured the window that had been broken by the waves, without thinking he swam under water (without going back up for air) and out the window. The boy who didn't know how to swim was now on top of his home waving to other survivors for help.

If this story does not make you feel blessed I don't know what will. I too have been in a situation where I thought I would lose my family but God got us through that (if you want to know about it let me know and I'll post it). I can only imagine what my life would be like now had I lost my mom and three youngest brothers. The kid was 12, his whole life ahead of him, and now has to live the rest of his life without the things he grew up with, without any of his drawings and artwork, and most of all without the one person he loved most, his mother. This to me shows how blessed we all are.