Weekly Thoughts

12/15/07 – No Power

Hi all,

We've been without power much of this past week due to an ice storm that hit Oklahoma, knocking out electricity to over 500,000 homes and businesses, half of that in the Tulsa area where we live, with about 73,000 still without power today.

I had been at a retreat in Colorado Springs and was able to drive back just as the storm was hitting, just in time to experience life as Laura Ingalls in "Little House on the Prairie" knew it.

After the power returned Barb and I reflected on how much effort it required the last few days just making sure we had the basics taken care of: warmth, food, water. Even our phone was out!

Our home is all electric, including the water heater, and we only had water because we are on the end of the line in our rural water company, so we received whatever was in the line as it flowed to us. (The water company's pumps couldn't run during this time).

The days were filled with gathering firewood, maintaining the fire, preparing and cooking meals over a fire, keeping candles going (about 20), heating water for washing, moving refrigerated food outside where it was cooler than the house (fortunately), or bringing it in for use, and other things.

The sheer effort of living without any power has caused me to reflect on what it must be like living today without the Lord - the sheer effort it takes to live when you are not hooked up to the Power of the universe.
The lowest temperature in the house we experienced was 51 degrees (F) after we had let the fire die and put the candles out for the night. That morning I arose at 3:50am to get the fire going again, it seemed a personal battle not to let the temperature in the home dip into the 40's - and gradually it rose to the balmy level of 63 degrees by 11am! The average night time temperature was 55, and you'd be surprised at the difference between 51 and 63!

Praying in the Spirit is like keeping the fire going within us, with corresponding "warmth" within as we discipline ourselves to pray. I try to pray in the Spirit/spirit whenever I am not talking or actively listening, most often under my breath silently so that people around me don't even know I'm praying. Even as I write this I am praying in the Spirit. I am so much more sensitive to the things of the Father when I do so.
After a couple days without power the effort required to live was getting to us, and Little House on the Prairie seemed to be a lot less romantic than we once thought. We have visited the original Little House on the Prairie as it's just an hour north of us, and it was thrilling to see where Laura Ingalls lived, went to school, look at Pa's well that he had dug - it all seemed so quaint.

Real life with no electricity is not quaint. Not in the 21st century. Our new routine was getting old. We talked about how we wish we had bought a generator years ago, as ice storms and power outages are not unknown in our part of the world, though this one was one for the record books, and that's when we decided if the Lord would lead us to one, we would invest in one.

After checking 4 stores that were all sold out, I was impressed to call one I had checked before but was sold out, and was told they had just gotten 50 in but they were going fast. When I arrived it looked like a scene from the TV news of the day-after-Thanksgiving rush to get into a shopping mall for sales - but instead of women trampling each other to burst through the doors it was men backing pick up trucks to the front door, dressed in jeans or overalls, baseball caps, and looking like they hadn't bathed in 3 days (no one had).

I was able to get one of the 8 remaining, loaded it into the truck and brought it home. By this time the streets were clear of ice, it was just a matter of driving around downed trees and branches for some of the trip.
Once home and filled with gas the 10 hp engine fired up, I plugged in the heavy duty 25 foot cord it came with - with pig-tail (an extension cord with 4 plugs on the end of that 1 cord), ran it through a window cracked open (and then stuffed with towels to keep the cold out), and started plugging in appliances.

That evening we had the refrigerator, microwave, TV/DVD, a lamp, and the fish tank all up and running, though it sounded like a lawn mower was right outside the front door.

My running around to 4 different stores reminded me of people running around this world looking for the True Power, trying to find a place to "plug in" to find or restore meaning and purpose to their life. When I finally found one with power, our world changed immediately.
We went from "Little House" to 21st century with the pull of a handle. We had power!

When I was in high school and college I watched many of my class mates experiment with various things offered in this world, from drugs, sex, and rock 'n roll, to eastern religions, they were searching for self worth and purpose. I would talk to the them about the Lord, but they would reject Him as being too restraining or, they told me they'd wait until they were 80 and done with life, then accept Jesus as Lord. For most, all I could do was pray they would see that day at age 80.

For years I've prayed an abbreviated version of Paul's prayer for Barb and myself, and our children and (now) their children before I get out of bed: "Father I ask that you would open the eyes of my understanding and fill me with the knowledge of your will with spiritual wisdom and understanding". This is a combination of Ephesians 1:17-18 and Colossians 1:9. I also pray the prayer of Jabez each morning for myself and family as well: "Father I ask that you bless me this day indeed, that you would enlarge my territory, that your hand would be upon me, that you would keep me from sinning that I not cause injury". (I Chron 4:10) Then I pray in the Spirit as well for 10 minutes "scanning" the day to see if the Father needs to alert me about anything during the day and pray about that until complete - then I get out of bed.

The difference the past few days is that once out from under my warm covers my body was immediately assaulted with 50 something degree temperatures, and relating this to no spiritual power, I thought of how people who don't have the Lord to commune with get out of bed to a cold and confusing world, requiring much effort merely to cover the basic needs of life. Like the Tom Hanks character in "Sleepless in Seattle" after the death of his wife, he tells the radio call in host he's just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going. What a numbing and aimless existence.

II Timothy 1:8-9 says this: Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal.
Purpose and grace - grace is always associated with purpose. God's grace in our lives is not a blanket coverage for us to live life as we please, there is an eternal purpose for it. The Father has a plan associated with his great love and grace in our lives. As we walk with him, hooked up to His Power, that plan is revealed.

A commentary on myself is that I was taking the electricity flowing into my home for granted. This week has been good to reflect on what is really essential in life, and I've renewed my efforts not to let what I have in the Lord be taken for granted. Now that the power is on the routine will of course return - I see I have 100 emails to read and respond to, the house needs cleaned up after our week of 19th century living, and phone calls to make.

There is one fact of life left to spiritualize and one confession to make; that is that while the power was out neither Barb nor myself did any dishes - they piled up on the counter, neither of us brave enough to wash them in water that was nearly freezing, nor wanting to take the time to heat water over a flame.

I could suggest the dirty dishes are like sins; no one wants to touch them, it would take effort to clean them up, we'll just let someone else work on them.

In the New Testament the discipleship process was completed within the context of relationships - whether multi-generational, business, family or new friends, someone took the time to care about another person and walk them through the clean up process. There was no sitting in a pew being talked to for 45 minutes then out the door, allowing people to remain unconnected to others. In the end, we all need help walking out our salvation, we all need people to speak into our lives.

In my life it's much more fun to answer emails and return phone calls than do dishes however. A snow storm is moving in now with a Winter Storm Watch issued for our area - Tulsa residents usually panic at 6 inches of snow - maybe the power will go out again - but in the mean time the dishes are calling and I must answer. Barb did the first load, now it's my turn. 

Growth in the Lord isn't glamorous or spectacular, but like our lives with the Power restored, once the kitchen is clean again it sure feels good; I just wasn't planning on a spiritual experience as I wash the dishes. Amazing how growth in the Lord comes through the most mundane things.
 
Plugged in and washing up,
John Fenn