Near Miss

A fierce storm blew in Monday afternoon, as happens many days in this season.  Cooling air, towering clouds, the rumble of thunder, the beginning heavy drops of rain.  Then suddenly there was a simultaneous deafening clap and blinding flash.  It seemed intense enough at our house, but CSB was at the epicenter.  Several dozen kids who were out playing soccer and track on the field hit the ground, including two of our children (Caleb  and Jack), and Kevin Bartkovich, who described the sensation of his hair standing on end.  Later we realized that three inverters and a charge controller were burned out in various buildings at the school.  A sobering and mighty surge of power that thankfully did not injure much more than a few fuses (one piece of equipment has to be replaced).

To have Christ School struck by lightening (at the only hour of the day when many kids are outside, including ours) is just so crazy, one has to stop and ponder a moment, why?  And the day after the frightening seizure Louisa experienced?  Both incidents were “near misses”--scary and serious enough to race our hearts and give a glimpse of the nearness of disaster.  Yet in both instances the children were protected from permanent damage.  In truth,  we go through days and weeks and years on end without lightening strikes or malaria episodes, but I don’t pause to give thanks for those mercies until a near miss makes me realize how vulnerable we are, and how tirelessly our God works to preserve our souls from a multitude of evils.

Please join us in gratefulness that God knocked us to the ground, literally and figuratively, twice in two days but then pulled us back up.  And pray for us to be sensitive to His daily faithfulness.