Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

• John 3:5-8

The photo was taken in my backyard.  I needed to take the trash out.  I had heard there was a thunderstorm watch, not a warning, just a watch.  A watch says that the conditions are right for whatever the watch is about.  A warning is that someone has seen it, so it’s real.  This storm went so fast and was so destructive, that it was on you and then gone in about five minutes.  And then you were without power, so reporting it to the weather station was out of the question.

I saw the cloud, and I said out loud, “That cloud has texture.  I need to take a picture of it.”

Little did I know that this would later be classified a derecho by the National Weather Service.  A derecho is a fast moving wind that must be sustained for so many miles and the wind must be straight line.

In the photo, I saw three layers, thus my weird word of “texture.”  In less than a minute, the bottom of the three layers was on top of the house.  I was almost running to get into the house after getting the trash to the street.

Note: The trash can never moved, but the vinyl siding was damaged,  A pot was shattered.  And the neighbor’s cast iron fire pit was lifted and placed a foot from my car – no damage.

But the lightning hit a tree across the street and power was lost less than a minute later.  The power was out at the house for 80 hours.  I lost everything in the fridge and freezer, but I got to defrost the freezer and the insurance company was very quick in responding.

But I may want to get some type of generator or battery backup.  Four days without a CPAP meant that the first two nights, I did not sleep.  The third night, my body did not care whether I could breathe or not.  I crashed.

There was an odd social phenomenon.  Everyone in the neighborhood ran their cars while parked to charge hearing aids, cellphones, etc.

But I had to have a way to see the good – thus, I told everyone afterwards that losing everything allowed me to defrost.  Many smiled.  A few said that it amazed them that someone can find any positive from the situation.

But now that I know it was a derecho, I can say that I survived a derecho, and I got to defrost the deep freezer.

God promises us that all things work for our good – that is if we love the Lord and follow His commandments.

God is good, all the time.

But the next time I see a cloud with “texture”, I am going inside quickly and going to the basement.  Just sayin’…

And if you are wondering why I did not read your e-mail, by the time I got the computer going again, I had over 500 emails in the inbox. Yikes!

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.