The Lightening Strike

On Friday, I realized that the power was out in the barn.  John the Builder came to investigate and found that two wires had done something I didn't quite understand that had resulted in a loss of power.  Well, I understood what had happened.  What I didn't understand was how the two wires had accomplished their shenanigans in the first place. 

Today, John the Builder and the electrical crew arrived to swap out the fuse box.  The electrician took a careful look and soon realized how the wires had done what they had done. There was a lightening strike! Unbelievably, lightening had struck the fuse box, blown a lug right out of the box, and melted the wires.  It turns out that the wires in the fuse box were not the only wires that were melted.  The wire to the barn had met with a similar fate.  Not surprisingly, all the wire has to be replaced in order to restore power to the barn.   

We did have a storm a few nights ago, and there was some thunder and lightening, but it really surprised me to know that a lightening bolt had singled out my fuse box to strike. How unexpected is that? In the blink of an eye, POW! Out with the fuse box!  POW! Out with the 400 feet of wire to the barn!  POW! Out with the power to the barn!  In an instant, my early morning trip to the barn changed radically. 

Life can change like that, too, can't it?  When you least expect it, out of the clear blue, something unexpected can happen and disrupt everything, and not necessarily for the better.  The question is not whether something unexpected will happen.  It will. The question is how will we respond to those unexpected, difficult times when they come?  

Jesus Himself knew about hard times, and He assured us they would come to us all.  The good news, He said, is that He has even the hard times well in hand.  How do we respond to the unexpected difficulty?  There are lots of things we can do, but the only sensible response is to turn to Jesus, who has it all under control.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV