On a dark and stormy night... Well, that is what we had in Houston last night. Roy had let me know early on in the day it would be a late night for him, so I took advantage of that and put off doing everything that needed to be done until around 5:00 pm. Neither one of us had done much cleaning around here over the weekend, so I began in earnest to start those chores with my eye on the weather because all the rain that seemed to be someone elses problem in the West was moving in toward Houston. Knowing Roy wouldn't be home for dinner, I microwaved my Play Grocery Store chicken pot pie and had an early dinner. Good thing because after eating, I got out the vacuum cleaner. The rain which had been steady started coming down in sheets. In the distance was the rumble of thunder and the things to come. We lost our electricity early on in the storm when it didn't even seem to be that bad. OK, where are the flashlights? Where are batteries? Good thing my handy dandy Mustang Engineering LCD flashlight was in my purse, because it was a tremendous help. I removed a small battery operated fan and radio from our semi put together hurricane box. Roy was staying put downtown until the worst of it blew over. Buddy and I huddled together on the couch listening to Focus on the Family and counting one Mississippi, two Mississippi in between the lightning and thunder. There weren't too many two Mississippi's counted last night. That lightning seemed all too close. It was entertaining to have Facebook updates and found it encouraging that I wasn't the only friend sitting in the dark, reminiscing on recent Ike moments.
Just that morning I had been reading An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor while riding the recumbent bike. I had just finished the chapter on The Practice of Saying No. I almost skipped that chapter because I don't have a problem in saying no. Only this chapter was about finding sabbath in your week, in a day, or in a moment. She closed out the chapter by saying, "When you live in God, your day begins when you lose yourself long enough for God to find you, and when God finds you, to lose yourself again in praise." I liked that quote. Then I began chapter 9, The Practice of Carrying Water, Physical Labor. She begins the chapter sharing about her first ice storm in rural Georgia and how different loosing power in the country is different from in the city. For one thing, it takes the power a lot longer to be restored and she and her husband were responsible to keeping chickens, horses and dogs alive...without power. By the third day she decided to make a power outage a great spiritual practice. Now "the power of God" and "light of Christ" took on a whole other meaning. The circumstances made them live like most people live in this world, preoccupied with survival. Darkness and cold exposed their helplessness and total dependence on God. No computer, no doing laundry, no watching a movie, no hot water to even take a bath. On the afternoon of day 4, the power returned and the joyous reception of this news broke into spiritual significance... She said there should be a service in the prayer book for such occasions as these.
O God of the burning bush, we praise you for the return of heat and light.
O God of streams in the wilderness, we thank you for the gift of flowing water.
We never lost water last night, but a friend of mine did. The water pump for her complex is located in the underground garage and was flooded out and no water until this morning.
Last night I did what Barbara Brown Taylor suggested the next time the power goes out. (Little did I know I would get to practice this so soon) Her suggestion, be still, listen to the rain and wind, ask God to speak in the noise of His creation and in the silence of anything man made. It was an awesome time. Even though my phone would beep with each incoming update, I knew who to pray for in the storm. My practice in the past has been to pace, complain, vent and offer Roy suggestions of who to call to get the power back on quickly or find out how many in our area are without power. Yea, he loves that she said sarcastically. The solitude in the storm was a good spiritual practice, God spoke and I listened. There was peace in our home, even Buddy calmed down and went to sleep. The book went hand in hand with Sunday's message.
All the rain altered or maybe I should say altared my plans for today. Couldn't get to a funeral this morning and no reason to rush around today trying to get stuff done. I would have liked to to have gone to the service, one of my tennis friend's husband died on Friday playing tennis on center court at ROCC. It is the way he would want to go or his other choice would have been in the work of serving others... he knows Jesus. Guess, he would have died serving either way and he really knows Jesus now. It's been a good day to stay home, cook dinner, and resume cleaning. It's been a good day to sleep in, read just a bit, and listen in my prayers. The time beneficial to remembering and laughing at the thought of Mildred and Gertrude at Tallowood Sunday night. We had a blast being a part of the program and when someone says to me afterwards, you have a gift, I like to ponder and remember how God has used life and circumstances to give me such a gift and of course those thoughts conclude with thankful and grateful praise to God. Hadn't had the chance to do that and now I have.
Roy got home safely last night and I barely could ask him to let the water subside to get to the office this morning. He had a journey and an adventure, but he got there. The person he was interviewing for a job opening was there for the 9:00 appointment, his newest hires first day and she was there, and he's going to talk with HR about the one who came in against such odds this morning. He is happy a happy camper.
Speaking of happy camper, I got Buddy registered for camp yesterday. That is what we call it when we go on vacation and have to board pets. I don't think I can be the one to drop her off. We have never left her at a pet Bed and Bath Inn before and she is such a people cat and in particular follows me around. Say a prayer for Buddy. I don't want her to die of a broken heart before I get back. Wait a minute, I am talking about a cat. Cats can take us or leave us. Well, I would like to think she is going to miss me.
2 comments:
You do have a gift of humor, and I can't wait for bunko on Monday night. I miss you, and I need a dern good laugh!
You are going to bunko, aren't you??
Poor Buddy! I know for dogs you can pay for them to have extra play time. Can you do that for cats? Beckham is going to camp next week while we're at Disney World.
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