The Thunderstorm

      One warm, winter evening, there was a thunderstorm and the electric lights and appliances began flickering frantically. Finally, all went dark! Since we live near the substation, the electricity rarely shuts off and on the rare occasion that it does shut off, it comes back on within seconds. However, this time, it stayed dark. We were bitterly reminded of our dependence on electric power, which only began to be in widespread use, in the last 100 years. Our grandparents lived as children without electricity, and their lives were shaped by that. At night, light was produced by kerosene lamps or candles, cooking was done on a kerosene stove or over a fire in the fireplace, heat came from burning wood, oil or coal in stoves or fireplaces. There were no computers, radios or televisions. Entertainment was was improvised by the family by games, reading, singing.
      After the power went out, we brought out some candles, that were “safe”, in which the flames were confined to burning in glass jars, giving sufficient light for us to move about, without tripping or banging into something. Reading and writing could be done, with the light of three or four candles together.
      We used a battery-powered radio and found the civil-defense station in our town, which announced only routine information, but nothing about the electrical outage.
      We had no working clocks, as all our clocks are digital and electric. Our cellphones, which are battery-operated, gave the only time, as long as the battery charge was still alive. We have two clocks, that don't use electricity, one is old-fashioned, but it is broken and on our to-do fixing list for years. We have a battery-powered old-fashioned watch, that is also broken.
      Our fancy, cordless phone, runs on electric power and the computer, and was useless. However, the old-fashioned non-electric phone was fully-functional.
      There was no way to cook, as the stove, oven and microwave were all electric.
      After several hours, it appeared that the electricity was restored, as the lights came on. But why wouldn't the television or computer work? As we fretted that they might have been damaged in all the electrical flittering, it was apparent that NO appliance would run—the oven, stove, furnace, microwave.
      The electric company, when called, confirmed that there was a “voltage reduction”, but they were working on restoring full power.
      For the evening, we had electric lights and the small radio in operation, but no other appliances, that required more electricity, would work. In the morning, the electricity was fully restored and all appliances would work.
      How would our lives be, if we depended on God and His Spirit, the way we do on electricity? If the power goes out completely, we need to make the repairs, so that we have the power back on. When the power is on “voltage reduction”, at least we aren't stumbling in the dark, but do not have power to do anything else. When the circuits are fully in operation, then we have the use of all those appliances, which make life so much easier. So, we need to stay plugged in to the divine source, through reading the Bible and prayer, allowing God's full power to work in our lives.