Column: Power outage

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know: if you've joined me for my weekly columns, take a gander around this space of mine. You'll find a wide variety of writings, like blogs, snippets of books I've worked on and other stuff. I don't think that I've shared any poetry on here, but hey, that could change in 2015...

Anywho, this past weekend was CRAZY! Let me tell you about it in this week's column. If you like it, share it with others...and FYI, my love language is "words of affirmation"...if that tells you anything. ;)

original publication date: Friday, January 9, 2015
Random Writer
Power outage 

Here's to hoping the New Year has started off swell for you. 2015, for me, began with a SNAP--literally. By the time I was getting out of bed on Saturday morning, one of the power lines in front of the house had snapped, which followed with this shutting down of everything electronic inside the house.

We were without power.

I had never endured a power outage before, so I wasn't really sure what to do. Eventually, following the advice of my mother, we called the electric company and added our name to the list, as Facebook told me there were several in the area whose power had been lost as a result of the ice storm.

But while I heard the powering down of everything in the house that morning, it wasn't until around noon when my dad was talking with some people on our block and found the snapped line. So we called again, because now we could submit a "life-threatening" situation.

In my simple mind and according to my standards, I believed it would get fixed in a timely manner. But when we came back from dinner on Saturday night to a dark and cold house, the flashlights we had on hand "just in case" became a necessity, along with the candles we placed on the table ready to be lit.

So when we woke up on Sunday morning, all bundled and layered in a house still without power, that meant one thing: no power equals no water heater, which equals no hot showers, which equals me not going out in public (in this case, church) because I have a personal rule that I don't leave my house if I haven't taken a shower. But I was still able to dive into the Word and discuss Scripture with my family. I was even able to catch up on my Bible plans through the YouVersion Bible app (side note: seriously, if you are looking for a way to read the Bible more and keep track of your reading, download an app...so many great plans!)

And as funny as it is, we were even able to listen to the Dallas Cowboys game on the radio late Sunday afternoon thanks to my media player. And when my player died, we grabbed my uncle's player to hear the rest of the game. But even when the game wasn't streaming the airwaves, we played Catch Phrase which provided many laughs in the midst of a less-than-humorous situation.

We almost reached the 37th hour of no power at the house when the bright flashing lights of the Oncor truck broke through my bedroom window. Honestly, my enthusiasm reached the level of a child waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve--I was pretty excited! I attempted to watch them remove the broken line and finally, that moment arrived when all the electrical items in the house flashed. Power had been restored, and the bundled mess that I was emerged from the cold, dark house to reassure the worker that the power came back while thanking him for his work.

But seriously, everything aside, I am ever-so-grateful to the men who worked outside our house late on Sunday night in 27-degree weather...men who had probably spent most of that day and the day before working to restore power in the entire county. We take things like electricity for granted so much until we find ourselves without it.

And all praise goes back to the Father for seeing us through that situation. The day before, I had purchased an album which featured songs from the 2014 Passion Conference I attended in Houston, and a line from one of the songs kept running through my mind those two days. In Matt Redman's song "Worthy," it opens with the line "You alone, at the center of it all." And it's so true. Whether we find ourselves in the cold or darkness or without hot water...or something far more tragic, He is there. In this case, He gave us provision and provided people to resolve our situation.

And if God hadn't already made Himself known in that situation, He brought some Scripture to my attention during my Bible reading. Job 2:10 (NASB) states, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" For the sake of context, Job poses this question to his wife after she tells him to curse God for everything that had happened to him and his family at the start of the book.

But here's the thing: I think this question still rings true today. Many people lavish themselves in the goodness and blessings of God and cling to Him, but the moment that He allows us to endure trials or suffering, we question how or why He could do such a thing. Spoiler alert: He's God; He can do whatever He wants. It's as if we've forgotten that He is in control of everything--at the center of it all--and allows things to happen for our own growth while His glory is radiated.

Just like in my own tale, we got through it and emerged brighter and warmer. And if you're going through a rough time in life, God will get you through it. But let me remind you that once He's brought you out of that trial, don't forget His goodness and the way He works on our behalf to show Himself to us. Use it as a stepping stone for continued fellowship in prayer and Scripture reading in the days and weeks and years to come.