lightning bolt

is it just me or is it particularly quiet in the blogging world this week?

maybe it's the extreme heat.. everyone is too busy trying to keep cool to sit down and write

i was really looking forward to a big thunderstorm this morning, they've been promising us one a few times over the last week.. so far, only a sad amount of drizzle. i need a good thunderstorm! when i was in high school my closest friend, cristiana and i used to LOVE thunderstorms. if we heard that one was likely to happen we would try to plan to have a sleepover, or at least talk on the phone. more than once, when an intense thunderstorm started, cristi managed to convince her mom to drive her out to anola for a sleepover (one time her mom drove her out as late as 10!) we would stand in my room at the window waiting to catch a glimpse of the lightning. in anola we were often able to see some "free light" (not sure if that is a scientific term, but thats what my dad told us it was called) which is when the lightning isn't just a bolt, but it lights up the entire sky so that it looks like day, with a purple haze to the sunlight i suppose. it was incredible. to see it go from pitch black to bright as day in seconds. we would stand at the window holding our breath, counting the seconds between the thunder & lightning. marvelling at the intensity of the light and the crackle of the thunder. to this day i still find it hard to fall asleep if it's storming because i want to just sit and watch it unfold.

on our honeymoon michael & i went on a cruise in the caribbean. it was a week long cruise which included 2 full days at sea, and each night the boat sailed through the ocean waters to the next destination. we had opted to pay a little extra to have a balcony off our room, which was the BEST decision in my opinion. it rained EVERY night on our cruise. and every night we would get a cup of coffee (or some soft serve icecream.. it is a dangerous thing to have a self serve soft icecream machine open 24/7) and sit on our balcony listening to the rain fall onto the open expanse of water. it was so peaceful. one night there was a thunderstorm, so instead of staying inside the boat (like everyone else) we ventured out onto the top deck. i was determined to catch a picture of the lightning. i set my camera to just shoot continuously and i ended up with about 200 pictures of darkness. then, one magical second.. and i had it, a picture of the boat surrounded by light, with a purple tinge to it, as bright as day. magnificent lightning.

only God would be so creative to create something so amazing, so powerful, that you have to sit and wait, watching and waiting to catch a glimpse of it. he doesn't just surround us with beautiful trees, flowers, sunsets.. things that we can see without trying. no, he adds in special things, lightning bolts, free light, rainbows.. things that you have to stop what you are doing and look for, things that God made for us to enjoy and take the time to acknowledge. he is so creative, i am just in awe!

now I am ready for it to pour. to sit watching. in the meantime i suppose i should also enjoy the sun, the heat, the SHADE and be thankful that it isn't snow.

i realize this is more of an autumn picture.. but there is just something so beautiful about it. i picture that person standing there, marvelling at the tree, the colors of the leaves, the color of the sun and the stillness of the water and being thankful.