Power from on high

If you haven't heard yet, Ocracoke is currently under a state of emergency. Now, don't get excited...that's not nearly as bad as it sounds. We did have a good bit of flooding in the village from the Nor'Easter storm which came through over the last couple of days. But the reason for the emergency is because of issues with the road "up the beach" as we call it (that means anywhere between Ocracoke village and, oh, Virginia). :) The road on Ocracoke is only partially open due to dune damage (i.e. sand and water on the road), and a 1/4 mile section of pavement is out on Hatteras Island, near Rodanthe. So the Emergency Management control group decided to limit access to the island to residents and essential personnel only. That - combined with the fact that we have had intermittent power on the island all day - created the emergency. There is a generator on the island, which has been run during the day, but the power is "shared" around (i.e. it is on here for a while, then off here while it is on in other parts of the village). All of this reminded me of a journal entry I wrote in May of 2005. Here it is:

During yesterday's sermon, I realized at least one of the reasons I like Joyce so well, as she talked about the truth she had learned from the power outage after Hurricane Isabel. I saw there a kindred spirit, another who observes things and thinks "life is like that."

Her sermon was great. She described the fact that electric power for the island comes from somewhere up the beach and called it "power from on high." Then she talked about how, after Isabel, that power was not available, so the village had to use generator power. Since it was only the locals (there had been a mandatory evacuation for tourists), the generator provided plenty of power for everyone. Then, the following year, Hurricane Alex swept in fast and caught even the meteorologists unawares. There were thousands of tourists stuck on the island, and the power went out again. This time, because of the greater load, the generator could not keep up, and power had to be rationed by rotating it around the island. Life is like that ~ we can handle the ordinary, but when there is a larger load, a bigger burden to bear, we need power from on high. We need the help and comfort that God can provide. One thing I would add to this observation: in life, God's power from on high will never go out: it is always available to us, no matter how severe the storm, as long as we seek Him.


Hope you are safe, warm and dry. Happy Thanksgiving!