8.01.2010

Acts of God

So, like I said, we've been praying for a good old summer rainstorm.  Something to lift the stifling heat that's oppressed our region lately.  I mean, we'd even take some good old eastern Washington wind, just for a breezy lift.


To date, there's been a little sprinkle here & there, but nothing to alleviate the swelter...at least not for any decent length of time to provide a true respite.  It's been nothing but muggy, swampy, & bhleck!

Well, Friday night Mr LKP asked me to accompany him on his 6th work day of the week as he transported a front-end loader about 160 miles away from here.  I jumped at the chance because Mini-Me's been gone again this week (this time to my mother's in Oregon).  And needless to say, I've been lonely with just me & the critters.

So the semi truck, with me in tow, departed our place at 5:45 yesterday morning.  We had to head out to the yard (30 minutes from our house) to pick up the lowboy trailer, then fuel up (77 gallons-oy!), then head out to a crusher pit about 20 miles west of the yard.  After loading up, we double-backed our 20 miles & finally headed north to the other crusher pit to drop-off the loader.

We weren't back to the yard & done for the day until 3:30pm.  It took Mr LKP about an hour to complete all his paperwork & get his logs in order from this week.  From there we needed to stop in town & pick up a few things before we could head home.

We finally pulled into our own driveway around 8pm.  I was beat.  All I could think of was a nice, hot de-funking & de-truckering shower.  And then of course crashing in bed.

Well, that's not what happened.

Our neighbor hollered over to us that lightning had struck one of the electrical meter bases around noon.  The poor box exploded and started a fire!  No joke.  So the neighbor & his girlfriend called the fire department (with the nearest fire fighters 12 miles away at a funeral), and then dashed over to contend with the blaze themselves.  Thank the good Lord, they were able to stop the fire from spreading & then extinguished it entirely.  The neighbors were already done & back up to their own place when the firefighters finally arrived on the scene.

The fire department, from there, contacted the power company, who dispatched a crew out to survey the damage & make sure no live wires posed any further danger.
Luckily we have power to the house despite all this.  Where we weren't so lucky was that this power meter controlled the power to our water pump.  Oh, we've got water in our well, but no way of getting it from the pump house to the house or to the dog kennel or to the shower or to the toilet or to the washing machine or to the dishwasher or to the tap (or subsequently to my cup).

We're plum dried up!

So, we fed the animals, and all still had some water from that morning.  Then we packed a bag and headed back into town to stay the night with my In-Laws (where they let us borrow their shower & toilet & a spare bed).  Thank goodness for them, as well as our neighbors!  Their all truly blessings in our lives.

A family friend, who's a certified electrician, is supposed to be coming out to get a new power meter installed for us, and then the power company will come and hook it all back up, so we shouldn't be dry for too much longer.  We've spent the day pretty close to home, waiting for that fix to happen, in case it can happen today.  As part of the wait, there's been a great deal of reflecting going on:  
Wow to acts of God!

Not only is lightning ferocious, beautiful.....and disasterous.  But orchestrated through God's hand only, to teach lessons.

No, not "Repent cause otherwise you're Hell-bound."  At least not in this case...I don't think.  But to teach many lessons of His power & the need for our faith in Him.  The need for our trust in Him.

He prepares us for these kinds of situations.  The greatest trial in them is recognizing His hand that's guided us all along the way.  Kind of like the coolest mystery to be solved.  Something big happened, we survived it, and how did He make our survival possible? 

Here's what I'm seeing:

Here's what I'm grateful for:

  • The day it happened.  Mr LKP'd been out of town MOST of this past week.  Plus Mini-Me was in Oregon with my mom & grandfather as well.  So, I've been battling the lonelies.  Had this happened while I was home by myself, I'd have been FREAKING OUT!  
  • Our quick-thinking neighbors.  While on the run yesterday, most areas had very little cell phone service, so if I'd been home alone again I wouldn't have been able to get a hold of my husband at all.  In addition, that funeral I mentioned earlier?  Most of our family & church were attending the service.  Reaching ANYBODY for help besides 911 would've been impossible.  And by the time the fire fighters would've finally arrived, it may have been too late if I were battling it myself.
  • How it hit.  Lightning typically hits the tallest features when it strikes, right?  The top of the pole this box was anchored to was untouched by the lightning.  The box alone was struck.  The fire that began was from the sparks from the exploding box.
  • Again, WHEN it happened.  Remember when we went a-tractorin' again?  Yeah.  Since we borrowed back my FIL's tractor, Mr LKP's been pretty good about putting it to lots of use in not only clearing sagebrush, but mowing down the tall prairie grasses & weeds all over the property.  Had this happened 2 weeks ago, or had he not eliminated a lot of the dry weeds, it would've been a LOT worse...and very quickly I might add. 
  • The commandment of food storage & having an emergency plan.  We haven't had to tap into the food storage this go-round, except to pilfer some of the jugs of water today.  That way there's water for flushing and washing, etc.  Funny thing about it is I bought the water years ago....some mad-crazy urge to pick up these jugs of water due to the great deal I got on them.  Am I going to have to replenish them?  Yeah.  But man it's been nice to have something to rely on while we wait for help today.  Had I not heeded the commandment to get prepared, we'd be up a dry creek--paddle in hand--without water!
  • The power meter that was hit.  It could've been the meter that takes care of all the power for the property.  Could've fried EVERYTHING in our house.  All our info & photos would be gone as this was something so much greater than a surge protector could handle.  (Granted they are just things, and we're grateful mostly that our lives & those of our animals were preserved.)
  • The whole house itself could've been gone.  Again, it's just a house.  But it's also a home, filled with new memories, and one favorite cat (Tuffy was inside all day, while Sullivan was out).
  • The Lord.  All these things are because of Him.  They're all acts of God.  For our benefit.  So we can trust that He will hold us safely in his hand.  He's said "...I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."  (D&C 84:88)  Yet again, He's bearing us up.
 It hit this...

Which could easily have taken all of this...

So many what-if's... the craziest part of it all is that the lightning was quite unexpected.  The neighbors said it came with no rain.  There were no clouds in the sky that even looked menacing.  At noon it hit our place.  Shortly there after one or two other strikes happened about 1-2 miles away, up the gorge.  Nothing else happened.  No rain ever came.  No dark, stormy clouds.  Just this weird incident.  That's how I know it's meant as a trial of our faith.

I'm so glad this didn't turn out worse.  So glad to be alive.  So glad to have our home & shelter intact.  So glad to have caring neighbors who actually watch out for us the way neighbors should....unfortunately not the way all neighbors do these days.

So glad to have Heavenly Father reminding me that He's here and it is only through Him that my life is as good as it is.  Snap of His fingers and what He's given, He can take away.  Reminds me that I should never bemoan my lot in life.  Reminds me that He knows.


It's through small things that His greatness & glory is manifested.
The small things are Acts of God.

7 comments:

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Wow. I'm so glad that you weren't there and that "things" will be OK.
Looks like you need a good soaking storm don't ya.

Good for you for having some emergency essentials.

Hugs for your week.

NaDell said...

What a great attitude and way of looking at it. You might as well look at it that way anyway, but it's refreshing. I'm glad it seems to be working out. =)

S.I.F. said...

That is crazy lady! I'm so glad everything turned out OK, and that no one was hurt... Small miracles! ;)

EYE can make that! said...

I've been away from the computer fo a few days.... hi! We had a busy weekend and so did you!
So glad everything's ok...imagine if you'd been home alone, that would've been scary.
We have water tanks where we live... it's such a pain when the power goes out. Lucky my mum lives about 10 minutes from here. It's after midnight, I'd better go to bed, good night :)

Deborama said...

Crazy stuff! It was fun to hear everyones stories of blessings and not so much with the rain storm! One family had hay down, not good. One family had lightning strike and start their wheat field on fire but luckly the rain came fast and hard and they didn't loose their HUGE field! I know our grass was happy to see the rain! :) Some prayers were answered and some lessons were to be taught! :)

CB said...

HOLY CRAP!!! I missed this post.

All I have to say is OH.MY.GOSH!!!

Chels said...

I love how faithful you are. Super awesome!

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