Anyone who knows our family is most likely acquainted with some of the stories of our vacation experiences. However, some of our real life day to day experiences can be just as interesting if not mind numbing. On one such occasion, we had just finished the day babysitting our grandchildren (ages 4, 9 and 11). A bad Florida thunderstorm was on the horizon as our son picked the children up. My husband had an Elder's meeting that evening as well, so I settled down with the dog beside me to read a book.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightening struck right next to our home. I know I jumped but so did
the dog and the light on the table next to me went out. All the other lights were on but not that one. So I calmly replaced the bulb and it worked fine. Of course, our internet was down but that was no surprise. I tried restarting the router several times to no avail and put in a request for service. Naturally, the earliest they could come was on Saturday which was four days away, but I had no choice. The problem is that we have a streaming T.V. service so that means no children's shows or movies, and we were set to babysit again the next day. This was not the end though.
Our friendly bolt of lightening did a number on our tankless water heater as well. I discovered this when I tried to run hot water that night at bedtime. After trying several things, we knew we would have to call the plumber or electrician the next day.
On the following day, I went to turn on our coffee maker and guess what? Yes, you are right. It did not work. The machine was zapped as well. Still this was not the end of the tale.
My husband went out to check on our pool and found the pump was not running. He turned on the pump and it responded but the timer had been fried by the lightening so now that had to be replaced. Later that afternoon as I was running water to make the grandchildren lunch our water ran out. We have a pump for our water well so we feared there was a problem there too.
Over all, we had a plumber here who told us a fuse was blown in our tankless water heater which might take a while to get. Then, we had the pool repairman here to fix our timer on the pool. I ordered a new coffee maker and our son let us borrow his so we could have nice strong coffee. And to top it off, we had an electrician come check our well pump connections. He made a call to a well pump repairman who also came and fixed the pump's mother board.
Keep in mind, we were entertaining our three wonderful grandchildren all the time we had repairmen coming and going. We had no water in the house and no live T.V. but thankfully, I had some old videos and an old video player I hooked up so the children could watch a Disney movie.
By God's grace, we got everything repaired in due time. This certainly proved to be the lightening capital of the world for us that day! We never had experienced anything like this in the past (with the exception of hurricanes for which we had been prepared). I often think our thunderstorms accompanied by lightening are far worse than other weather issues.
I shared all this because it is much like the Christian life. We can be sailing along happily going about our daily lives when suddenly a cascade of events strike without warning. We know we live in a fallen world, but really? Why does it seem the sky is falling all of a sudden? The verse that came to me when the lightening struck is found in John 16:33: "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Indeed, no truer words could ever have been spoken to the disciples.
In the commentary of this verse by Dr. John MacArthur, he writes: "Through his impending death, he rendered the world's opposition null and void. While the world continues to attack his people, such attacks fall harmlessly, for Christ's victory has already accomplished a smashing defeat of the whole evil rebellious system." I find a good deal of comfort in thinking about this. Jesus never promised that our lives would be fields of beautiful flowers that we would endlessly run through day by day with no worries to face. He was truthful and prepared us for the fact that we live in a fallen world; however, because He has overcome the world, we also are more than conquerors in Him. This doesn't just apply to a bad day when lightening hits your house, but it also applies to illness, loss, death and the crushing of a dream. Jesus is there walking with us through the valley of the shadow of death and "His rod and His staff comfort us"!
Life is certainly unpredictable in this fallen world, but we have the assurance that we are never alone. Whether it's a lightening strike or a sudden tragedy, we can know that our never changing God is there with us to see us through. He has overcome the world, and because we belong to Him, we are also overcomers! May this encourage us all to look to Jesus when life hands us a shocking experience. Selah!
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