May 21 - “No big deal”

Night before last we were presented with quite the unexpected excitement. Toward the end of the Astros victory, we heard a loud pop outside. Glancing out the back window, we also saw some sparks flying from the power pole. 

Now, the wind had been blowing like crazy all day, so when it occurred to us that every time the air conditioner kicked on the kitchen lights flickered, we considered it no big deal. Must be the power cables blowing in the wind and smacking against a salt buildup somewhere. No big deal. 

After family worship, the kids went on to bed. Chris and I sat down on the couch to chat. First time we had that chance all day. And just as we settled in (I did see another flash of sparks from the transformer area), my phone rang. It was charging, so I went to the other room to check it out. Strangely, it was from Centerpoint, the service provider arm of our power company. Something about the outage we had reported being dealt with. But the power had never completely gone out … and we had never called. Weird. 

Sure enough, before long a Centerpoint truck pulled up. I couldn’t help it. I went out to check on them. I told him we hadn’t called. He asked if our lights had been flickering. Now how did he know that?  Seems that with their new-fangled computer system, the computer picked up on our lights flickering and initiated a call. Scary stuff. 

In a nutshell, the power was turned off for about 20 minutes. The kids stayed in bed, but giggled and talked the whole time.   Hey. It’s what you do when there is an adventure afoot. 

Chris and I watched the entire repair through the back window. Their lights made it clear as day. The lineman shimmied up the pole and replaced a connector of some kind. And in no time, all was good. The linemen told us that it should be fine, at least until they drove away (only half-joking). He said with Galveston’s salt and humidity, that’s about the best guarantee they can offer. 

Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭10‬ says, Haven’t you read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Father, thanks for you for guys like those linemen who risk their lives dealing with electricity every day. Amen.