I WILL SAY NO MORE---MAYBE

 After four days of posts, all inspired by the weather, I might as well finish the week out.  I will really make an effort to leave this topic behind (you notice that was not a promise.)  BUT one more thing occurred to me early this AM, the threat of power outage.

With storms such as the current winter storm, there is always a threat for loss of power.  At times ice can cause breaks in the system, which can only be repaired by restringing wire and replacing poles and transformers.  That was usually the culprit when I lived in North Louisiana where trees are dense.  One downed tree in the miles of wire strung to keep us in power can create havoc for thousands.  When I lived in a small dead end neighborhood outside of town which was filled with trees, we were prone to this loss.  I have many a story about those times---most of them are really wonderful memories.  My neighbor across the street worked for the power company.  The neighborhood joke was before he came home, after a long siege of storm repair, our lights would be back on or he would incur the wrath of his wife.   We were fortunate to have a fireplace in our den and we would all hunker down in that room with the windows covered with insulated drapes and the doors closed to prevent draft.  Seriously--it was the best of times---all 5 of us together in that small room and no outside distractions from each other.

There is a lot of off season work done in Louisiana to clear the electrical right of ways from potential threat.  Trees are trimmed and sometimes even downed in an effort to keep the power up when the storms hit.  The key to withstanding the storms which always came---was being prepared.

The threat in Texas is a little more ominous---well a LOT MORE ominous.  We have seen in the past the entire grid go down in Texas.  I will not go into all of the politics surrounding how this happened, but suffice it to say the entire state was in a state of bedlam.  When your power source is no more---you have big trouble.  EVERYTHING comes to a stand still--and whether in the stifling hot of the summer or the frigid cold of a winter storm--lives can be lost.  It is a crisis to lose your power.

I know you feel where I am going---if we turn off the switch and lose the connection to our spiritual source of power---it can be even more daunting.  When the storms of life start to roll in and we are without that connection, we are in deep trouble.  We are responsible for keeping our line of communication to our power source up and running.  This requires doing maintenance work in those times of calm and peace---we have to make certain the line is open and we are connected.  Call it a daily drill--but we need to practice in the good times---for when we are in crisis during the bad times.  PRAY---daily---and be prepared.  Keep your Power Source close and those lines of communication open---you never know when a storm may hit.

"Come close to God

and He will come close to you."

James 4:8