A Rambling I Go

Good afternoon, friends.  I woke this morning feeling like I had been hit by a speeding locomotive.  Oy.  My head hurts, I am aching and my stomach is a bit on the "not-so-sure-you-should-put-food-in-me" side.  Pretty sure I have something that resembles the flu, but I am praying that it isn't.  Desperately praying that it isn't.

Last night the mother of all storms blew through our area.  It started around 6:45 last night as I was hanging out with my friend Ann in Willmar.  The sky took on this greenish hue, clouds sped over the house and then the rains came.  Torrential and steady, dancing with the wind as sheet after sheet of rain pelted everything not covered or protected.  And then there was the lightening and thunder.  The lightening was crazy wild.  It looked like someone was taking several pictures all at the same time.  It was breathtaking to watch.  This storm lasted well into the evening and I think, according to my friend Emily, that the last of it blew out of here somewhere around 7:00 this morning.

I love storms.  For whatever weird reason I have always loved them. I have to say that my favorite part of the storm is the lightening (which is probably the most deadly part of the storm).  It grabs my attention and holds it.  I am fascinated by it. 

Much like I am fascinated by the dynamic presence of God.

He was the one who created the lightening.  And the rain.  And the thunder.  His creation is beautiful and violent and completely captivating.  Have you ever been to the rocky coasts of the Pacific?  I have.  When I was a kid.  As many summers as we could, my family and I would travel to Medford, Oregon to see my great Aunt Clara.  Medford is a beautiful city.  Oregon is a beautiful state, but it was a killer car ride all the way from Minnesota.  We would take the time to travel the few hours or so to get to the ocean from Medford.  I am not even sure how far it was, but I knew it was the highlight of every trip there for all of us kids being from Minnesota and all.  The biggest body of water we have is Lake Superior, so imagine how wide-eyed and fascinated we were by a body of water so immense.

The shore was rocky, at least where we would go.  Not much beach and giant rocks everywhere.  Kind of like the coast of Lake Superior.  And we would always end up going on the cold and windy days, so the surf would hit the rocks and we would be covered in ocean spray.  It was a dynamic and beautiful memory.  It was fascinating to me to watch wave after wave come in and hit the rocks and see how far the water would fly into the air and where it would land.

God did that.  He generates the wind and creates the waves as a testament to His power and might.  He allows us to live in this creation, His creation, to marvel at it so that we don't forget who created it and ultimately who is in charge.

I thought one day I would live in Medford, but that was replaced by a love for the mountains in Colorado.  Maybe one day, a long way off when I am retired, I will once again visit Oregon and the coast where we spent time as kids.  Maybe.  Who knows.