“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26
I arrived back in Glen Ellyn around midnight on July 11th. Michael, who was the birthday boy, got picked up by a neighbor around 7:15 and I fell back asleep. Summer vacation! In my own comfy bed! Time to do projects and hang out with my pets!
Well, my lazy morning was abruptly interrupted by a micro-burst which plowed through our town at around 7:45. What is a micro-burst, you ask? Well I happen to have the Wikipedia definition handy;“A micro-burst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to, but distinguishable from, tornadoes, which generally have convergent damage. A micro-burst often has high winds that can knock over fully grown trees.”
The sky was black, the winds were loud, and I headed downstairs with my shaking dog. The front storm door swung open, breaking the hinge, pushing my rocking chair off the porch and breaking the light. Of course Mike wasn’t home. He wasn’t with me in the Northwest when a windstorm knocked over a bunch of huge pine trees in our back yard.
The power went off and after finding candles and Sadie’s Thundershirt I headed to the basement. What is a Thundershirt? Well, it’s supposed to apply pressure to a doggie to relieve stress and anxiety. It didn’t work. Can I get a refund please? Tigger stayed in his basement hiding spot all day.
Once the storm stopped I heard the birds. They were singing as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The next sound I heard was the sound of a generator and after that an electric saw. My neighbors lost several trees and one landed on their mini-camper. By dinnertime the streets were lined with branches.
I thought the power would be restored by evening. I was wrong. Four days later, our power finally came back on. Over 570,000 homes were without power. During those four days (which were hot) we kept our food alive and a fan going thanks to our neighbor’s generator and an extension cord.
I spent a day in the library enjoying the air-conditioning and Wi-Fi connection. We ate out the first two nights and slept in the basement. It was fun doing our marriage bible study by candlelight. We’re reading “High Octane Marriage” by Danny & Amy Dewalt.
I kept seeing the Com Ed trucks driving up and down our street, and other homes began getting electricity, but not us. I had bad hair days (no blow dryer) and couldn’t start my projects. Waa...then I thought about all the people in Joplin, the south and in Japan whose lives have been turned upside down due to the violence of storms. I am grateful for God’s mercy on our home and won’t take power for granted.
Right after the power came on I vacuumed and baked cookies. It felt like home again.
Lessons learned: a new word; micro-burst, storm doors often break in storms, generators are wonderful (wish we had one!), not even a Thundershirt can help my dog stop shaking, and I want to be like the birds right after the storm- praising their creator with confidence that they are taken care of.
In His Grip, Jane
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