Eye Of The Storm

"And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea: 'Peace, be still.' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." Mark 4:39

It's been a long three days here in the 'Ville.

All over the area, actually. For the first time I can remember, we were directly affected by a hurricane. Ike roared ashore down at Galveston early Saturday morning and has just about redesigned the Texas coastline. The storm was so strong and so big that it was still packing quite a punch when it got up here to our neck of the woods Saturday afternoon.

I've seen some pretty powerful thunderstorms in my day here. That's kind of what our weather is known for in East Texas -- heat, humidity and some of the biggest, most violent thunderstorms you can imagine. It's like up in Minnesota where Ronnie and Erin are -- you expect the snow to start falling sometime in late October or early November, and it won't stop falling until April maybe. Here, it's those big thunderboomers. It's just part of living here and you get used to it.

I don't know how anyone can get used to this kind of stuff, though. Ike was a monster. The television coverage and pictures, I'm sure, don't do it justice. I was thinking Friday night as I sat watching TV, when the storm was blowing in, that there was a pretty good chance that Galveston was going to be wiped off the map. As it turns out, at least for a few days and weeks, that might not be so far from the truth. The bad thing is that most of the coastline down there is in the same predicament.

But up here in the 'Ville, we got a lot of wind and rain. Mostly wind. There are friends and family still struggling to live in the dark, three days after the wind stopped. The power crews are doing an admirable job considering the extent of the damage, but the fact remains that people are having to live without electricity.

Our lights went out Saturday afternoon around 4 or so, a good three hours after the first gentle breeze began to blow from Ike. An hour or so later, the trees in the neighborhood were bending over. It was quite a show from Mother Nature.

All things considered, we got off pretty easy. Jeannie had supper going in the oven -- chicken and rice, yummy -- when the power disappeared. Problem with that was that we, of course, have an electric stove, and an even bigger problem was that the meal still had a good 90 minutes or so to cook. I'm not real big on munching on undercooked chicken, so we were left with trying to find a suitable heat source, or have to deal with watching the meal go to waste.

Fortunately, Monty had thought way ahead as usual and had a generator running out at their place. It was running the lights, TV and other essentials, one of which was the stove and oven. So we packed everything up in the height of the storm, said a quick prayer and headed out into the gale.

We came home later that night and the house was dark. Abby had gone to sleep at Nona's, and she never knew we came home anyway, so she was sound asleep in her bed. We opened the windows and it wasn't bad at all thanks to the still strong breeze outside. We had a battery-operated fan we take on baseball road trips, and that was placed in mine and Jeannie's bedroom window. Coby and Melody slept in Coby's room, where the window was facing the breeze and made it quite cool there. So again, all things considered, Saturday night was somewhat restful despite the conditions.

Power came back on early Sunday morning, and went back off for a few hours late Sunday afternoon. Stu and Lauren came over seeking shelter, and we went out to eat in the 'View. Power was restored about nine or so that night, and it's been on ever since.

There are still folks around here living in darkness, but fortunately the cold front that whisked Ike out of here quickly Saturday night brought with it some December-like temperatures. So again, all things considered, it's not as bad comfort-wise as it could be if this had happened, say, in the middle of a traditional East Texas August.

The last few days are a reminder that God's power is far-reaching and, well, powerful. Hurricane Ike was a devestating part of nature that will happen again, sadly. The far-reaching effects of such an effect are felt everywhere, and it touched us here in the 'Ville this weekend -- several hours away from landfall. Ask New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast about Katrina. Hurricanes are deadly and very, very inconvenient.

But in the midst of the storm, God provided us some comfort. We had family with a generator, so we were able to eat a nice warm meal and spend Saturday night watching TV while the storm howled outside. Instead of oppressive heat in an un-air-conditioned home, we were able to sleep peacefully with a gentle breeze through the windows.

In the end, always, God takes care of us. In the midst of destruction and in the middle of the storm, he's the Eye watching over us. He is in control of the storm. That's the most comforting thing of all.