Critical Analysis of Ike (Part Two)

Sorry...its been like a week. And of course, it is because we FINALLY GOT POWER. (Or as a lot of people in the downtown Houston area call it..."We got lights!" ..that cracks me up.. All around me I heard people say... "You got lights?" "I don't got any lights!"..

Anyways...So I left off with my incredible idea to get us a working fan so I could catch some Z's.

We took a 50 foot extension cord and two 20 feet extension cords (thats all they had at Walmart)...plugged in our oscillating fan and ran it all the way across the parking lot/street to the apartment building that actually had power! Boo ya..yes. WONDERFUL. That is the ONLY way we survived Ike.

At some point during our 17 days without power, Hunter and I both lost our patience with CP....(CenterPoint). They were notified of our situation an average of 3 times a day. Each evening, we came home... flipped on a light switch...sighed...called CP...put our purses/backpacks down...and left to go eat/live out the rest of our night at Barnes and Noble.

OK. The positive side? Hunter and I got to invest in each other more. I found I like conversations more than TV. I finished 3 books and found another at B&N. We found a few restaurants that we really like. We got to watch the Astros a few times when we were out. We got to go to Katy and spend time with family and Baggie precious face.



We got to pray about our church home more. AND, I got paid for 3 days that I wasn't even there...(YES! SALARIES ROCK)

..I could go on...And I do think that the Lord showed me a neat thing as well.

During the lack of power state...I couldn't help but notice that our lives felt at a halt. Like everything I thought of during the day, that would be considered progression...was ended in my mind with the thought "Oh, I'll do that when we have power"...

Many days on the rail, Hunter and I would play the 'When we have power' game ...where I would say "Fill in the blank...When we have power, __________." Everything felt stopped. Nothing was progressing...no hint of productivity...in fact just the opposite.

The house was getting messier...and clothes dirtier...the air more stale...the fridge more smelly ...and the showers colder (ok that has nothing to do with productivity..it just sucked).

The point...I feel like that is a TOTAL depiction of our life without the Lord! What are we doing without Him! Where are we being productive? How are we progressing our lives? We're not! We just get more disorganized and confused. More chaos arrives. Sin...guilt...condemnation are knocking at your door with muffins and a pumpkin spice latte. Mmm..But with the Lord? Redemption... enrichment... depth...

Of course, our lives clinging to the Lord does not make circumstances peachy perfect...BUT it does heal our heart.

Seeking the Lord daily provides us with growth...progress (eventually)..and spiritual productivity. All of which are good things.

"I said to the LORD, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.' " -Psalm 16:2