Storms

Was laying in bed just now, watching the lighting flash again and again and listening to the thunder growl again and again...and realized I almost ended my streak! Yikes! Thankfully the power is still on - though it did go out once a few minutes ago when I was downstairs alone (freaky!). It's especially scary because the last time we were  robbed was on a night like this - when the rain was pouring down and it was so loud outside you wouldn't notice any sounds.

But thankfully tonight we have our watchdog - more fearful than fearless, but still. She's a dog. Gotta have some sort of instincts there. Though when I went out to check on her in the middle of the storm, she was sleeping peacefully and didn't even stir.

Last week in study we were reading about the storm that JC spoke to - literally saying, "Be muzzled" and as I was laying (or is it lying...sorry Buzz, can't ever get that one straight even though I'm an English teacher) in bed I tried to imagine what it must have been like for the chosen few who experienced that with Him. They're on a boat and suddenly the thunder starts rolling in, and then the lightning flashes start and then the torrential rain comes down.  I'm scared enough in my house and the noise is often deafening (we pretty much have to stop watching a movie if it rains like this because you can't hear the TV!). What must they have felt like? What would it have been like to hear Him say one word and it all ceased...perfect calm. Perfect peace. No hint of the storm that was pounding just seconds ago. It caused them to say, "Who is this?"  I love that the 12 were often scared, confused or downright clueless. Because that's often how I feel. Well, pretty much everyday actually.

Another random thought about storms... I was also laying in bed thinking of my family and realizing this storm is all around me and my parents have no idea. Where they are it's probably perfect weather because they're nowhere near this thing. And then it struck me...often in the storms of life we think that the storm is everywhere, all-encompassing and surrounding. But from His vantage point, it's like a shot from the Truman Show - remember that scene where Jim Carrey is in the boat and the rain is pouring down, but it's only pouring down on him and nowhere else?  I often feel like the Father must be caught up in my storm and blown here and there by it...But where He is, visibility is 100% and He can see the purpose.  And He is bigger.

Tonight when Corky came over we talked about another big storm - the one that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Nouy asked why the Father would allow so many people to be wiped out when He could easily change their hearts.  I've often wondered that myself, especially living here where the soil is so hard to till. But maybe that's why He lets the rains of life pour down on us - to soften the soil and make our hearts ready for His light to shine into those hardened and dark places.

Hmmm, maybe we should have storms like this more often!