To quote the immortal Freddie Mercury
"Thunderbolts and Lightning, very, very frightening, me..."
Well, if not me, my wife and second son, who spent at least 3 hours in the basement of the parsonage during what we have been told was the biggest electrical storm here in Grand Rapids for decades. It raged from 3pm until after 11pm, and resulted in many downed trees, flooded roads and disruption of telephone and electrical connections. Our internet connection at the parsonage has been down since Thursday morning, probably due to the storm, so that is why there have been no posts over the past few days...
But it is amazing that here we are in the most powerful nation this world has ever seen, with all kinds of technology at our disposal (including doppler radar pictures to tell exactly where the storm was headed) and we are reduced to the role of helpless spectators by a mid-summer storm. In the ancient world the thunder, lightning and hail we witnessed on Wednesday were taken a signs of God's power and wrath (See Psalm 18). Now they are only seen as meteorological anomalies... and perhaps as pointers to the fact that we are seriously messing up the Earth's climate.
But in the face of these and other less physical storms, the affirmation of the Psalmist is still worth baring in mind:
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
Psalm 18: 2 (NIV)
Mind you there are those who still prefer to put their trust in human power... As embodied by another type of Thunderbolt I saw today... the pair of A10 Thunderbolt Tankbusting Aircraft that kicked off the 4th July celebrations in Granville today...
But more reflections on that tomorrow, after the fireworks tonight...
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