"A Reminder from Above"

Today was an interesting day: Lightning struck the ground a few hundred feet from me, it knocked out electricity to the building I was in, and I spent the next two hours painting in the dark!

Late this morning, I had just started putting paint onto the walls in a 2nd floor apartment, when the sky outside began to grow gloomy and foreboding. An ominous thunderstorm was rolling in, and in short order, a bolt of lighting knocked out power. No more electricity. Which, of course, meant that, as the sky grew darker and darker outside, so did the interior space I was working in -- a space lit only by the weak light seeping in from the outside windows.

The painting project needed to be done though, so I kept at it, even if that meant struggling at times to see where I had just painted. I adjusted my plans a bit too, and decided to remain in the two small outermost bedrooms -- the two rooms that had the biggest windows. At least there I could still see the walls.

At one point, I stepped outside (on the covered balcony) to chat with the young woman on the 2nd floor balcony across the way. Her building (one of the four apartment structures on the lot) was also without electricity, and she was hanging out there with her two young boys, trying to keep them from becoming antsy and bored. Afterall, with no working television to watch cartoons, and an apartment lit by candles, the balcony really was the best place for them to be.

As I was talking to her, another nearby balcony-dweller informed us of her recent conversation with the local power company. Apparently a bolt of lighting had struck one of the residential power poles on the lot only a few hundred feet away. It fried the transformer, and plunged all four apartment buildings, and 36 apartments, into darkness. The company was fixing the damage.

Yeah... A few hundred feet away! Seriously! That's the closest I've EVER been to a lighting strike! It's too bad I was inside, though; I imagine that would have been quite a sight to see!

Anyway, after much rain, the storm passed, and the sky grew light again. Gradually I could see further into the apartment, so I moved on to some of the innermost rooms. By about 2pm, power was restored, the lights came back on, and I was able to continue painting as planned.

To say my day was a normal, though, would have been far from the truth. Afterall, it's not every day that lightning strikes the ground in close proximity to you, and forces you to work in the dark. But what intrigues me the most is this: when I woke up this morning, I asked God to grant me an interesting Wednesday -- one in which I gave Him my present (and often baffling) struggles, and left the day to His leadership. In response, he answered my prayer, granted me a memorable Wednesday, and tossed in a lighting strike to remind me that yes, he is still in control.

Now, how's THAT for a "reminder from above"! God works in awesome ways sometimes! And just like his conversation with Moses from within a burning bush (that didn't burn), the word "grand" doesn't always describe his answers. Sometimes, simplicity can be just as effective.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:15 PM  I   I  0 comments