I was up in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, last weekend, and I caught the news on TV from way out in Texas. Heavy and sudden rains had occurred there causing the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, to seriously overflow its banks.
During many trips out west, I traveled near that very river over the years on my visits to San Antonio.
The Guadalupe River runs from Kerr County, Texas, to San Antonio Bay on the Gulf Coast. As you may imagine, there are many water activities to be had there to include one of my favorites, fishing.
According to AI (Artificial Intelligence files), the Texas Hill country, where the Guadalupe River flows, is known as “Flash Flood Alley” due to its susceptibility to rapid and dangerous flooding.
Also found from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, “A flood in 1998 was particularly severe, exceeding the 100-year flood plain and causing damage to areas not previously flooded.“
It also reported that there was serious flooding in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1991 and 1997.
But like many rivers across the country, water activities are in great demand for vacations, and the Guadalupe was no exception.
Many campers along the banks, and most recently a large church organization and facility, Camp Mystic, was filled to capacity.
After heavy rains fell at the rate of some 10-15 inches in several hours, a catastrophe with some 20 to 30 feet ‘water surges’ occurred like never before seen by modern eyes. An estimated 100 billion gallons of water would fall from the sky.
The loss of lives and damage to the surrounding areas would be horrific.
At the Camp Mystic’church camp alone, the losses of life would soon begin to add up in Kerr County. Some 68 adults and another 28 children are dead and many others are yet unaccounted as of this writing.
And then someone says, ’I wonder why such bad things happen to good people. It’s such a shame.’
Some religious folks want to talk about free will or that decision-making aspect of all people. Others may want to remind you of that old story of Job and his sufferings to prove a point.
And yet others simply conclude that, good and bad things often happen to good and bad people every day.
Or being in the wrong place at the wrong time is a ‘suspect’ that always arrives when a tragedy appears to play havoc with someone’s life.
Many may want to give you an opinion why ‘bad things happen to good people’, but I doubt seriously whether there is any great authority on providing an answer to this puzzle.
When my grandpa died at an early age and fell dead off our front porch, I couldn’t understand the sudden grief of his departure.
There was no good answer to me just how a good man like Grandpa Reno could die so young in his mid-50s; I was only 11 at the time. The funeral director in Harpers Ferry returned Grandpa’s body back to our home before he was laid to rest in the ground.
Some folks have a difficult time understanding how a loving God could let so much suffering occur in the world and how the Creator could test an old man’s predicament of suffering like Job did in the Good Book.
I’m thinking that life on this earth is a big puzzle at times and seeking a ‘right’ direction is one of life’s free will studies.
Can I explain to you why that rain and billions of gallons of water was destined to fall from the heavens when it did on July 4, 2025, in Kerr County? Not hardly.
Can I offer an answer as to why all those folks and children who drowned in that dark river grave did so while gathered to worship their Creator? Not hardly.
I suppose in life there are many things left unanswered for the living to study.
As to why, ‘bad things happen to good people’?
I still have fond memories of my Grandpa Reno.
Always will!
