Finding peace amid Texas flood tragedy through faith and timeless hymns

The Guadalupe River in Texas rose over 20 feet in two hours and flooded the lands around central Texas. My heart broke as pictures of the innocent victims came in: campers at Mystic Camp, the camp director, a family camping, a woman driving to work at Walmart, and far too many more. The sheer power of the flood washing over the innocents reminded me of man’s weakness before the almighty God and his nature. 

Though I did not know those girls from Camp Mystic, I can only imagine that they were similar to the young girls who attend my summer camp on the South Side of Chicago. So innocent, curious, mischievous, full of life, and always trying themselves against the world. They were also with Christ and I imagine that many of the other deceased were. Even if they were not, they were living life as it should be, whether being with family or heading to work while everyone sleeps. 

It has been a long time since I heard this hymn, but this tragedy stirred up within my memory the song, “When Peace, Like a River.” The first lines are especially poignant:

TEXAS FLOODING VICTIMS INCLUDE DALLAS CATHOLIC SCHOOL SISTERS, CAMP COUNSELOR, WALMART EMPLOYEE

When peace like a river, attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

The imagery of the river and the sea billows remind us of the forces beyond our control and they remind us that peace and suffering visit us as part of God’s will. For the Christian, this peace is the highest peace of being with Jesus Christ. When I watched the survivor girls of Mystic Camp sing their religious songs on a bus ride, I heard this peace in their voices and I imagine their heavenly friends shared this same peace within their souls. 

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come 

Let this blest assurance control 

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate 

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is the redemptive sacrifice of Christ that provides assurance and strength in the face of “Satan” or earthly tragedies like this flood. And right after we hear these words sung, we hear “It is well, It is well, with my soul.” I am at peace whatever may come. I’m at peace whether I live or die. 

I have seen many deaths myself in my walk of life as a pastor and I have seen those who ask me, “why?” and those who are well within their souls. How we live our lives, day by day, how we walk through life, it all matters how. 

You don’t have to look far to see evidence of those who are not well within their souls. Sade Perkins, a resident of Houston, who was appointed to the City’s Food Insecurity Board, wrote on TikTok, “I know I’m going to get cancelled for this, but Camp Mystic is a white-only girls’ Christian camp…They don’t even have a token Asian. They don’t have a token black person. It’s an all-white, white-only conservative Christian camp.”

She went onto say, “That shit is racism and white supremacy, period…If it was Hispanic kids, if it was LGBTQ kids that got swept away y’all wouldnt give a f— and them same MAGA people would be saying they deserve it and that it’s God’s will, so f— all y’all.”

Then Dr. Christina B. Propst, a pediatrician (!), posted also on TikTok, “May all visitors, children, non-MAGA voters and pets be safe and dry.” And then: “Kerr County MAGA voted to gut FEMA. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for. Bless their hearts.”

After reading those comments in the news along with many others, politicizing this tragedy, I returned once again to this song: 

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! 

My sin, not in part but the whole 

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more 

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul!

It is through Christ’s crucifixion that our sins will be forgiven and that is to be celebrated, for it offers us hope and liberation from guilt. This leads us to the peace in the soul, the peace we need in the face of whatever trials that may come. 

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If Jordan above me shall roll, 

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life 

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

The song ends with the repeated refrain of “it is well with my soul” as a mantra of faith. As the pictures of the deceased began to make their way into the news, I found myself singing this refrain over and over as my hope for their souls and as my own testament of faith. 

I do not know what the world or God will bring us. We have no power over that. But we do have the power of those camp girls singing songs of Christ after the tragedy. 

We have the power of reinforcing peace rooted in religious or spiritual conviction rather than external circumstances. We are nothing more than our souls and we must nurture the peace within so that we may be ready, come what may.

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And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, 

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; 

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, 

Even so, it is well with my soul.