{"id":15356,"date":"2025-07-10T15:51:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T20:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=15356"},"modified":"2025-07-10T15:51:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T20:51:47","slug":"a-humble-memorial-to-texas-flood-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2025\/07\/10\/a-humble-memorial-to-texas-flood-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"A Humble Memorial to Texas Flood Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I have intentionally not posted anything about the recent devastating, life-taking floods that terrorized Central Texas because I\u2019m not sure I know how to process my thoughts and feelings. We suffered no loss whatsoever at our home, and survivor\u2019s guilt is a real thing. We have friends who suffered property damage, and \u2014 much, <em>much<\/em> worse \u2014 loss of loved ones. And the loss of so many children is\u2026just so painful to contemplate, and impossible to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When my voice fails me, as it does now, I find comfort in the words that others are gifted to share via music. There are three songs that often have spoken to my soul and my heart, but perhaps never as intensely as now. I offer them to you without commentary in the hope that there&#8217;s some measure of peace for you as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>My only suggestion is to find a quiet place, and try to listen to the lyrics of these songs within the specific context of unspeakable loss&#8230;and yet&#8230;amazing grace and unfailing hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy\u2014to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><i>Bring Balloons<\/i> \u2014 Cindy Morgan<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bring Balloons\" width=\"750\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IIwD_XX7cd8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><i>Live Forever<\/i> \u2014 Joe Ely<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Joe Ely &quot;Live Forever&quot;\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o5zbUuxo-jU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><i>It Is Well With My Soul<\/i> \u2014  Gaither Music featuring Guy Penrod &amp; David Phelps<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bill &amp; Gloria Gaither - It Is Well With My Soul [Live] ft. Guy Penrod, David Phelps\" width=\"750\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0nJ6wQpLmuo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"108\" height=\"15\" src=\"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/divider.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14536\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you perhaps feel led to provide financial assistance for flood relief, and are able to do so, please allow me to suggest a donation to <a href=\"https:\/\/arkofhighlandlakes.org\/flood-response-070525\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ark of the Highland Lakes<\/a>. Your help will bless others in a time of incredible need. And if you are in the Highland Lakes area and need help, please reach out to them.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When words fail me, I turn to music. Here are three songs that provide me with some peace. I hope you find them helpful as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,59],"tags":[522],"class_list":["post-15356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-texas-hill-country","tag-2025-flood","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/header_lakesunset.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15356"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15366,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15356\/revisions\/15366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}