Terror and Death on the Guadalupe River

July 14, 2025

In 2011 I took my scouts whitewater canoeing on the Elkhorn Creek in Frankfort, KY. It is the single most exciting day of canoeing I have ever experienced. We had no rain where I live, but Frankfort had two inches of rain that night. When we arrived at the creek, it was already pretty high, at an average depth of four feet. If I had known about the rain the night before, I would have called off the trip.

Over the next 2 ½ hours, the fast-moving creek would rise to a raging flood of ten feet. Our canoe trip turned into a search and rescue. It was by the grace of God that so many miracles occurred, no one lost their life and we only lost one canoe, and a few life preservers and paddles. The canoe was mine. I had beached it to help others in trouble. The rising water pulled the canoe off the beach, and it was found a few days later wrapped around a tree and turned inside out.

I am forever grateful that no one lost their life that day. It made the tragic story of the flash floods along the Guadalupe River, in Texas, all the more heartbreaking for me. As of today, 132 people have died, with over 100 people still missing. Many of the dead are the children from the Christian Camp Mystic. The rain on July 4, 2025 caused the Guadalupe River to rise twenty-six feet in forty-five minutes. It was a wall of water that crushed and killed so many. Why do these things happen? Why did my trip seem so blessed and protected while the children at the camp were so vulnerable and so many died?

Jesus dealt with the same question in Luke 13:1-5. A question was raised if the people in Pontius Pilate killed were worse sinners than others. Jesus says, “No,” and he tells of another tragedy, where the tower of Siloam fell and killed eighteen. These were also not worse sinners.

Jesus shares these sobering words, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:2–3).

Here are two current events, the massacre by Pontius Pilate and the collapse of the tower of Siloam. Jesus teaches that the lesson is the same for both. Jesus warned His audience not to blame the victim’s untimely deaths on the judgment of God. Note that Jesus speaks of how sinful everyone is, and all need to repent from their sins, NOW! We live in a fallen world. Sin, death, and evil rear their ugly heads all the time. We could be the victim of death by violence, natural disaster, or accident at any time. Repent, NOW!

When Jesus teaches that we all need to repent, He is teaching that all of us need a change of mind or direction in our lives. Jesus highlights the importance of repentance twice in this passage. His words always challenge us, that we are to repent or perish. Instead of wondering if someone is a worse sinner than us, we are to focus on our own sin and repent, turn from those sins, and seek God’s perfect forgiveness.

How often do we make assumptions about people who have died tragically? We wonder if their suffering was due to them being especially sinful and that their tragic demise must be from God’s judgment. Or, bad things happen only to bad people. You know the list of ways we can misjudge people, and why they experience tragedy.

On the website, “GotQuestions.com” the commentary concludes with these words, “Whether you’re from Galilee or Jerusalem, from Kansas or Kenya, from the country or the city; whether you’re rich or poor, young or old; whether you think of yourself as a sinner or a saint; and whether or not you even want to think about spiritual things—the fact is you are under God’s judgment unless you repent and have faith in Jesus.”

Finally, whether our loved ones live to a ripe old age and die in their sleep, or die tragically before we expect them to, it is by faith in God that we heal from our grief. I pray that all of the families who lost loved ones in Texas will find the faith in God to find healing from their grief, and let God help them rebuild their lives.

Have you ever had to rebuild after a tragedy or tragic death of a loved one? How has your faith helped you find healing? May God be glorified in the victories that come from those Texas families that find the strength, courage, and healing to live great lives for the Lord in the years to come. (To learn more about Al Earley or read previous articles, see www.lagrangepres.org. You can purchase my book, My Faith Journal, at Amazon.com, a compilation of 366 articles as a daily devotional).