A Clear Message

It has been said that it is a frightful thing to be in the hands of an angry God. I have even quoted that saying a number of times but this morning, however, I think I understand it a little bit better.

I awoke early, as I like to do, and did my normal morning rituals: shower, breakfast, read, and I was preparing to sit down and start writing. I then heard the sound of a siren. We all hear sirens from time to time, but this siren, I could tell, was coming our way. Sure enough, in about half a minute, the Paramedics and an ambulance were crawling up the street and stopped just out of my view out my living room window. They were shortly joined by two large fire trucks and a police patrol car.

There cannot be anything more curiosity-generating than the flashing lights of emergency vehicles just out of eye shot. The tops of the trees, the houses along the street, and even the whole sky seem to dance with lights but yet just out of sight! A man can only stand this for so long. So I was determined to go find out exactly what was going on.

I finished getting dressed and went out the front door, braving the wind and rain that had been building throughout the night. I could see the fire trucks in the street, but I wasn’t sure at which house they were parked so I proceeded across my lawn with the intention to get to the sidewalk and like a moth, get closer to the lights. “I’m not being nosy,” I told myself, “it’s about being current on the events of the neighborhood.”

All of a sudden, I was enveloped with light. I was sure that the police from the scene just a few houses away had spotted me and had captured me in their spotlight. It was blinding and I wasn’t sure what to do. Fortunately there was not a lot of time to think about it as the light went back off. It was enough that it had frozen me in stride and I stood like a statue.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM! A clap of thunder exploded and ripped through the dark silent air. It was a large, shocking, bone-rattling boom, followed by at least 20 seconds of rumbling. I had to listen to the last 19.5 seconds from inside the house, because no sooner then the first boom started, I was back across the lawn, up the steps and on the safe side of the closing door. It was the first lighting strike of the passing storm and it was the only one that I was aware of, although I would say it had my most utmost attention!

The boom had shaken our house quite well and had apparently rattled my wife out of her sleep. She met me in the living room as I leaned into and held the door shut.

“Did you hear that?” She asked?

“Loud and clear”, I responded. “God don’t like nosy!”