Eye of the Storm

Last night, we experienced what 'normal' storms can be like here in Wellington/Lower Hutt. I was at my desk, preparing for a meeting with the Children's Ministry team. I happened to glance out the window and thought 'hmm, it's getting pretty gray and windy. Must be a storm coming in'. A moment later I looked up again and the wind was literally howling and I thought to myself - 'uh, oh!!' I jumped up and started to run to the kitchen, yelling 'batten down the hatches!!!'

By the time I got to the kitchen (literally not more than 10 seconds later), it had turned into gale-strength winds and pouring rain (coming down almost sideways!). The doors and windows were slammin' and rattlin', there was stuff in our yard blowing around, trash cans toppled over, trees bent over almost in half, cows flying by mooing (ok, maybe trees and cow things are a bit much, but you get the idea). And then the power went out. Bummer.

And we still had 1 kid out in that storm. Zachy was at a friend's house a couple streets over. Just about then, the mom of his friend called and said they were just about to bring Zachy home when the power went out. And they couldn't get their car out of the garage because the garage door opener was dead without electricity. And it didn't seem to have a manual option to open it. Bummer. But another friend's mom was on her way home and brought Zachy home for us, so we wouldn't have to go out in the rain. Cool (we found out later that big branches had fallen on cars on the street where Zachy was!).

Anyways, the power stayed out for almost 4 hours, we had the Children's Ministry meeting by candlelight, flashlight and wood fire. Probably like the apostles did back in the day! Well, probably without the flashlights or the homemade scones (thanks Becks) or the tea. It was an awesome meeting - just getting to know the workers and sharing our heart with them and hearing them share their hearts. Cool.

Oh, and by the way, after the storm, this came out. Ahhh, what a great reminder of God's promises and faithfulness. It was right over our house. Double and triple cool....