Power Outage

October31

October 29, 2011, was a very challenging day. It began like an ordinary Saturday. Fresh coffee was brewing in the kitchen, the weekend edition of the newspaper had arrived, preparation was being made for doing the ordinary Saturday errands. When the weather report forecast snow—4 to 8 inches—it seemed unusual for the time of year, but nothing that triggered concern.

The forecaster did say it would be wet snow and it would weigh heavily upon the trees because they were still leaf-covered. This condition, in turn, might trigger power outages. Still no concern.

As the snow fell, the beauty of it became apparent. There is little that compares to the majesty of newly-fallen snow. The dingy, rain-marred leaves had not acquired their usual Autumn splendor because of the amount of rain and corresponding lack of sun, so the pristine white robe of snow draped over the countryside was exquisite to behold.

When the power went out, it wasn’t an immediate cause for concern. ‘They’ had said it might do just that. The temperature, mercifully, wasn’t all that cold—just at the point required for rain to take on the frozen attribute of snow. As time passed without restoration of electricity, we took on more clothing—and it was still OK.

In a home that’s totally electric, not only is there no heat but there is also a lack of refrigeration and running water. There’s no ability to make hot coffee (or hot coco for the children) and certainly, no way to flush the toilet more than once. So, care is exercised to bundle a little more and be discretionary about the use of ‘the facilities.’

As the weary day draws on, it becomes apparent that there’s not going to be a quick solution to the problem. The power may be out, according to the representative who was finally reached after a half hour of waiting on the line, until nightfall or perhaps into the next day…

A minor inconvenience has become a major concern as cold becomes more pervasive and the symptoms of coming down with a cold as a result of prolonged exposure to even this minimally cold afternoon and evening become more obvious. More bundling—a fleece and stocking cap are donned.

Discomfort makes one realize how dependent one is upon the modern creature comforts that are taken so much for granted on an ordinary day. When the power comes on after over twelve hours of enduring the elements without said modern comforts, the chill is a long time in dissipating. The fleece and stocking cap are worn to bed and the heaviest quilt doesn’t seem quite warm enough.

Perhaps more disconcerting than the lack of electrical power is the lack of spiritual power discovered at this juncture. It didn’t take long to begin to begin to wonder where God was and why HE wasn’t enabling the power company to bring a quick resolution to the problem. Perhaps the great lesson of the day was not how frail I am without electricity, but how frail I am in the inner man—and how desperately I need an infusion of Holy Spirit power to help me overcome the desperate plight that overtakes me when my spiritual power line is shaken.

We may be unaware of it, but we have a high calling in Christ. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Not only do we bear a physical likeness to Him (Genesis 2:26), but here we are told that we were created in Christ to do good.

Jesus went around doing good. A large part of His earthly ministry was the good that He did in order to reveal the heart of God to errant man. Jesus never wasted a moment in a negative pursuit. He did not break the commandments in letter or in spirit and He did not incite others to do so.

He did not compel those who followed Him to give their substance to Him or to lay down their lives in battle in His behalf. He desired only that a man recognize the contrast between the temporal and the eternal, so, with the understanding of the vast gulf between the two, each man who willed to do so could choose the eternal (see Luke 18:18-30).

Jesus desired that, as Paul stated in Colossians 3:12, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved (we would) clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” If we allow Him to dress us in these fine garments of Heaven, we can be sure we will look like Christ before the eyes of a skeptical and unbelieving world—something I failed to do during my personal 'power outage' on October 29.