Real Power

Crack! Dan and I sat bolt upright in bed. It was 5am several years ago. The lightning strike and thunder clap came simultaneously, shaking the house. Dan turned over to go back to sleep, but I got up. Nothing seemed amiss, so I went back to bed. When he went to go for his morning walk, he told me to come and look in our back yard. What we saw amazed us and was the topic of conversation on the golf course for a long time.

The twisted 40′ tree Ponderosa pine.

A bolt of lightning had struck the tallest pine tree in our yard. In a nanosecond, it twisted the tree like a licorice stick and snapped off the top 15’ of it. The tree was over 40’ high, and was at its base 3’ across. Racing down the tree trunk, the lightning following the dog’s chain toward our house but was deterred from it by the metal line that hung to the ground. It followed the line to the ground, burning the solid steel link off in the process. Thankfully, the dog wasn’t at the end of it!

The war zone in our back yard with our twisted tree, Aug. 2010

Upon further inspection, we discovered several other trees were hit and shattered in our yard. Shards of wood were driven into the ground like wooden arrowheads, buried 8” deep. Besides that, we found at least half of the electronic devices in our house were burned out — the electricity destroyed our music center, but not the TV which was on the same circuit! It ruined our garage door opener, but fixed the power outlet to our bathroom!

I call that real power.

On Aug. 23rd of this year, at 9:15pm, we lost our electricity. We’d seen a storm approaching, but didn’t know that high winds accompanied it. The power was off for two hours. I decided to get my bath, and while I was in the tub, I heard a loud crack! Seeing lightning all over the place, I decided not to tarry in the water. The electricity came on a little later, but it wasn’t until the next morning that we saw the damage. The crack I heard was the top half of a 30-foot tree in our neighbor’s yard, sheared off and fallen into the driveway.

All around the golf course, trees were uprooted and toppled onto houses and the six-foot fence around the tennis court. Some trees were snapped off about 20’ high like someone snips off daisies. On the 2nd fairway, there were six giant pines uprooted like dominoes and fallen onto houses. This was a tornado-force wind that hip-scotched its way across the greens like a playful child, pulling up massive trees and laying them down like toothpicks.

That’s what I call real power.

Yet that is nothing compared to the Word which proceeded from God’s mouth and created the universe — stars, planets, suns, the earth we walk on, vegetations, the seas, all animal life, and humans, all created in six days. It is nothing compared to the Voice that spoke and the Son of God was conceived in the womb of a young virgin named Mary. It was nothing compared to the Might that moved the stone while an earthquake shook the earth, and the Son of God and man, Jesus Christ, walked out of the grave alive.

It is nothing, my dear friends, compared to the Power that can take the blood of Christ shed nearly 2,000 years ago on the cross and apply it to forgive your sin and mine and wash us clean. It is nothing compared to the power that can transform a life bound for hell, a sinner in rebellion against God. A sinner like me whom He rescued, redeemed, changed and made into His dear child.

The trees that fell on the golf course that morning were watered every day. They had more than they needed. They were spoiled, fattened, lazy and complacent. Their roots did not sink deeply into the soil, so while they appeared strong and resilient, they were weak and top-heavy.

This is the tree that withstood the storm. Sadly, someone cut it down the day after I took the picture! What nature could not take out, man did!

We saw another tree that stood on the edge of a cliff off the golf course. This tree should have fallen, but it didn’t. It had to fight and struggle for water, so it sent its root deep into the earth.  When the winds of adversity came, the trees that were watered too much fell like so many ninepins. The tree on the hillside is standing today, tall and straight.

I have to ask myself: what power do I use to get my tasks done in my everyday life? While I pray and read my Bible every morning, giving God a nod, is He really the source of my every waking moment? Or do I rely on my own strength, wisdom and natural abilities to get me through the day?

Am I like the tree that draws deeply from God’s Word and sinks its roots down into the soil of God’s power and love? I confess freely and humbly that I need Christ’s power in my life. I want to stand against the gales of the storm in the power of His Spirit. I want to make my life count for His kingdom and His glory. I can only do that if I tap into His awesome power. And the same is true for you.

His power. His love. His patience. His kindness. These are what keeps you steady and strong in the face of the storms of life.

The next time there’s a lightning and thunder storm, remember the deep roots of the tree that stands on the hill. Call on God for strength to be what you need to be and do. And above all, don’t take a bath on a stormy night!