Our Lakes Are Full

Last week, I talked about how God answered our prayers concerning the drought that our city and surrounding areas have endured for the past couple of years. I mentioned one of our lakes was over 100% capacity and the other might take till the middle of June to fill. Well, I was wrong. Lake Arrowhead and Lake Kickapoo, both our main water supply, are at 100% capacity. The weather experts are saying that our drought is over. Praise God. He is faithful.

There is a lot of excitement going around the city because three weeks ago, we were concerned that we would run out of water. Experts said we would run out in 2017. Now they are saying we have enough for 10 years. It does not mean we are going to stop praying for rain, but it does mean we will keep praying the lake are filled. The city has not released us from drought restrictions, but I am pretty sure it will done by the weekend.

To give you an idea of how bad it was, a friend of mine took a aerial shot of Lake Wichita, which is not one of our main lakes, in May of last year followed by May of this year.

LakeWichita from Casey Osborne on Vimeo.

Thanks to all who have prayed for us during this time. Thanks be to God for allowing rain to come down and full our lakes.

An Answer to Prayer for Our City

Our city and surrounding areas have been in a severe drought for the past couple of years. I wrote a post called, Learning from our Drought, where I shared we were in a stage 3 drought. Since then we have been at stage 5 which means no one could water their yards. Our ground has been very dry and even caused plumbing in house to get damaged. Hardly anyone had green grass in their yard unless you had a well and no one could use their swimming pools.

A couple of weeks ago, heavy rain came in our area that caused a significant dent in the drought. We have two lakes that are our main water sources and they were at a combine 22% capacity. After a week of heavy rain and strong storms, they were almost at 50%. A week after that they were over 50%. Today I learned that one of the lakes, Lake Kickapoo, is over 100% and flowing into the spillway which flows in our other lake, Lake Arrowhead, which is at 66%. Our lakes could be at a combined 100% sooner than a lot of people expected. Our city officials decided to move us from stage 5 to stage 3, which sounded a little to rash at first, but it seems like a good idea now.

We are grateful to God for answering the prayers of the people. Many churches were praying for rain and we got it. Many were worried if our city would survive this drought. Thanks to all of you, who have prayed for city. However, with all the rain comes one big problem, flooding. In 2007, our city got hit with some major rain that caused flooding in some areas. I ask for prayer for those people who are in flood zones that have to be evacuated before the flood waters come rushing in.

What are my hopes after all this rain? I pray the people of our city know that there is a God who will give us all that we need and will answer our prayers in His timing. I hope those who do not know Jesus, this will be an opportunity for them to hear the gospel. I hope our city learned lessons in water conservation even while our lakes are full. I heard someone say we have 10 years of water. A lot can happen in 10 years so I hope we don't go too crazy. I pray more businesses come to Wichita Falls so people can get jobs. I also hope our churches will realize that God is Sovereign. He gave us these last few weeks of rain because He is a gracious God, not because someone repented or drew a circle around the city.

Almighty Father, you give rain to those who are yours and those who are not yours. Thank you for answering our prayers. I pray many will worship and praise you not the acts of men thinking they had something to do with this. I pray for those in the flood zones that you will protect them and give them peace. Allow your church to proclaim the gospel during this time and I pray hearts are now opened to hear your gospel. In Christ name, Amen.

Update on Church Plant-October 14, 2014

It has been a while since I gave the latest update for the church plant that I am apart of in Wichita Falls. Things are coming together as we speak with a few things that we are still working through. We still do not have a launch date for the church just yet but we do have an upcoming Bible study that I am very excited about.

Starting this Monday, we are having a study based on Tim Keller's The Prodigal God. We are having this study in the conference room at our local Jason's Deli in their conference room. One of the reasons we are having the study there is that it is in a central location for everyone attending can come. Another reason is the place we originally planned for fell through. By God's grace, the manager at Jason's Deli has graciously allowed us to use their conference room which is located at the back of the restaurant.

Here is a promo of that study:



As far as a church name, we have several ideas such as Sojourn, Redemption, Veritas, and even Pilgrim, which is unique because I do not recall any church with the name Pilgrim. We do have one hotel in the area that is going to give us a cheap rate for us to use their facilities when we launch plus it is next to a park so there is opportunity for children to play and possibly a church wide picnic following the service.

Things are moving along great. Excited for the study and what God is going to do. All of us believe God is about some great gospel work in Wichita Falls. I am humbled that He has allowed me to be part of it. I love the men I am working with to get this new ministry going. Continue to pray for us.