Tuesday, November 10, 2026From the news

A Meal Sent Across the Floodwaters

When the roads wash out and we feel cut off, God's provision and presence still reach us, just as a drone carried food to a chimpanzee stranded by a Florida flood.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:26

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

Psalm 145:15-16

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Isaiah 43:2

Picture the scene. Floodwaters rise, the roads that lead to your door simply disappear, and the people who usually care for you cannot reach you. That is what happened this week at a non-profit chimpanzee sanctuary in Florida, a place that gives lifelong care to animals once used in laboratories, the pet trade, and entertainment. The flooding damaged roads, buildings, and equipment. Staff could not drive to Kaleb, a 38-year-old chimpanzee, so they used a drone to deliver his food. Something small and modern carried something very ordinary, a meal, across the water to a creature who could not understand why the path was gone.

Many of us know that feeling. Perhaps you are cut off right now, by a diagnosis, a mounting bill, a grief that has made the phone go quiet, or a friendship that has frayed. The road you were counting on has washed out, and you are wondering whether anyone can reach you at all. So let us begin gently here: you are not forgotten, and God's provision does not depend on the roads being open.

Jesus spoke directly to this kind of worry. Look again at what he says: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." Notice that the birds have no storehouse and no plan of their own. Their food comes from a hand beyond them. The psalmist sings the same truth from another angle: "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing." God does not only feed the strong and the well-connected. He opens his hand to every living thing, and he does it at the proper time, which is often not the time we would have chosen.

What I find so moving in the sanctuary's account is that staff kept monitoring and caring for the animals even while the damage was still unfolding. They did not wait for everything to be fixed before they showed up. That is a picture of how God tends to work with us. He is attentive, steady, and near, even when the landscape around us looks like chaos. Isaiah speaks to this with striking honesty. He does not say, "If you pass through the waters." He says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you." The floods are real. The promise is that God is in them with us.

So let us take heart and make a few small, honest steps today. Name what feels cut off in your life, and bring it to the Lord in plain words, without dressing it up. Ask him for what you need for today, the way the drone carried what was needed for that day. You do not have to see the whole road to take the next step. And if you have a neighbor, coworker, or friend who seems stranded, consider being the one who brings a little provision across the water. God often feeds his people through the hands of other people.

Finally, remember that our Lord has already come to us through deep water. Jesus did not stay on dry ground while we drowned in our sin and fear. He entered our flood, went through death, and rose again so that no wave of this world has the final word over those who belong to him. The God who fed the birds, who opens his hand to every living thing, and who promised to be with us in the rivers is the same God who knows exactly where you are today. Rest in that. You are more valuable to him than many sparrows, and he has not lost track of you.