August 12 – “Rocked to the core”

Boy, were we ever rocked to the core yesterday.  I mean literally rocked.  We were on our way home from Houston.  (I had an MRI appointment, and we went to see a Seasider in the hospital who just had her ninth ankle surgery.  And she’s not done yet.  She faces two more surgeries - just this week.  The infection was so severe that much tissue was lost.  In fact she almost lost the foot entirely.  She seemed in good spirits, though.  She’s confident that she is now in good hands at Methodist Hospital with a doctor she trusts.  She’ll be there for a good while). 

So back to the story.  As we left Luby’s in Houston we noticed the sky was growing darker.  A group of folks just in front of us were even joking about it – wondering what that dark thing was in the sky.  It has been a while since we have seen rain around here.  We pulled onto the road and began our trek home with a chuckle.  Raindrops started to touch our windshield soon after we hit the 610 Loop near 288.  Before we could get to the Galveston turn off, though, traffic came to a dead stop.  And it didn’t take long to understand why.  The wind exploded on us.  It felt and sounded like we had been hit by a truck, but we couldn’t even see far enough to check.  The car began to shake and rock back and forth.  Hail began falling – loudly.  The wind was whipping violently.  Every car on the freeway was stopped dead, afraid to move even an inch.  I mentioned to Chris that it felt like we were in a tornado.  She curtly insisted that she wanted no part of even hearing such an explanation.  She was just praying that the overhead sign would stay overhead, and that the white van next to us would remain on its wheels.  I managed to record part of the experience on my phone, but I had admired the majesty of the whole thing for so long that I missed capturing the really powerful part. 

When traffic finally began to inch forward again, the bolt lightning show began.  And that didn’t end until we were almost to LaMarque, when the rain pretty much dried up as well.  Chris drove with the emergency flashers on the whole way, hitting top speeds of somewhere around 35 or 40 miles per hour.  A real storm speed demon.  We decided to stop in at Kel and Christina’s since the weather was easing up, and to no real surprise, they hadn’t had a drop of rain.  We figured that’s the way in was on the Island as well.  We did bring at least a few drops back into town with us, though.  It was sprinkling when we pulled into our driveway.  I don’t think we got much more than that, though.  When we went outside around 10 to see if we could find the meteor shower, it was too cloudy for star gazing, but not cloudy enough for moisture to fall.  Oh well, at least we got our car washed.

Colossians 3:13-14 says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Father, thank you so much for your protection in the midst of the storm yesterday.  It’s always good to know you are with us, but it was great to trust that you were there yesterday.  Please touch Jennifer and bring her healing.  Amen.