A Texas megachurch pastor and his family were among those who found their way out of the trenches of the devastating floods that hit Texas over the July 4 weekend.
As the Christian Post reported, Pastor Michael Oakes is the outreach pastor for Oak Hills Church located in San Antonio, where Max Lucado acts as the teaching pastor. Going about their July 4 plans, Oakes and his family went to their home in Hunt river where the rain soon turned deadly. However, things soon took a terrifying turn.
On Instagram, Oakes shared the heartbreaking photos and story of how God protected his family in the middle of this situation.
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We went to bed Thursday night to light rain. Heavy storms woke me about 1am and by 2am water was flooding our dining room. Our Hunt river house is across Hwy 39 from the Guadalupe, just up from the River Inn, probably 200 feet from the river and 15 feet above the normal river bank.
At 2:30am, Liliana and I could see the water rising quickly through flashes of lightning. We saw headlights of cars lining up on the road as people evacuated the River Inn and nearby homes, stuck with nowhere to go. I woke up the family. We tried to fill the gaps in the doors where water was rushing in, but it was a losing battle. By 3:30am we were ankle deep inside and the water outside was up to our window sills. We needed to get out.
After Oakes and his family knew they were in danger and had to get out as quickly as they could, they crawled out of the window, finding themselves in chest-deep water.
Johan and I crawled out the window to find a route through chest-deep water. People were calling out with flashlights from a bluff above our house and we decided to go. We went back for the family (and the dogs) and just as we were pulling our moms out of the window the water dropped a couple of feet (thank you Lord!) and we were able to make it to higher ground. We gathered with a bunch of people in a neighbor’s screened porch and counted our blessings.
The morning showed some of the devastation, and some hair-raising and often miraculous stories. Help started to arrive, including first reponders in helicopters who evacuated our moms. Then we waited with our neighbors for news and for the roads to clear, and started to clean up. It could have been much worse, and it was … the wall of water only grew as it went down river down river past Mystic camp and into Hunt and Ingram. The drive home today was heartbreaking as we passed so much devastation.
Oakes closed the post thanking all those who helped his family along this journey.
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Thank you to so many friends for your messages and prayers, and to all our neighbors and the good Samaritans along the way. We are heartbroken for all those mourning a loss tonight. This thing came on so strong and so fast [and with so little] warning. Please pray for those still suffering, and help if you can. Casita del Rio was our happy place, our dream retreat, and it will be again. But for now, we are grateful to be safe and to be home.
As search and rescue recoveries continue to be made, let’s pray for all those who are dealing with heartbreak and suffering as the people of Texas mourn the loss of their loved ones, homes and life as they knew it.
Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
