The God of Glory Thundereth

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. Psalm 29

The psalmist in Psalm 29 uses the electrical storm to describe God’s awesome power, glory and majesty, but last night we saw and heard God’s awesome power, glory and majesty first hand! We had a power blackout – it went off at 12:10 a.m., and it didn’t come back on until 2:40p.m – that’s fourteen and a half hours without power, but I praise God and count it all joy.

The electrical storm last night was extremely LOUD – there was the long rolling rumble of thunder, the shaking of the windows and the crrraaack as it thundered overhead.We managed to find the candles, but the matches were absolutely elusive, although we did manage to find a box in the kitchen cupboard, so I lit a candle and went to bed – somehow, everything is right in my world if there is light!. If  it wasn’t so late, I should have probably watched the lightning as well, but I was content to bury my head under the covers, and then the rain started – it absolutely pelted down for about half an hour.

During the daytime I managed to do all of my filing, and the filing cabinet looks much tidier, now. My daughter and I also paid the bills and bought some food when we went to town. Crazy, isn’t it? We have a freezer and a fridge/freezer full of food, and yet we couldn’t open them, as we are never sure how long the power is going to be off for. Most times it is off for over 12 hours and under 18 hours, but nothing defrosts in the deep freeze as long as we don’t open it.

It appears that we are now expecting another severe thunderstorm, as the BOM has issued this warning:

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
South Australia Regional Office

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for DAMAGING WIND, LARGE HAILSTONES and FLASH FLOODING
For people in the Flinders, Riverland, Murraylands, Upper South East and parts
of the Mid North and Northeast Pastoral districts.

Issued at 2:07 pm Tuesday, 6 April 2010.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones,
very heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the warning area during this
afternoon. Locations which may be affected include Renmark, Loxton, Lameroo,
Keith, Leigh Creek and Jamestown. Large hailstones are not expected north of the
Barrier Highway.

My son and husband were going to cut firewood this afternoon, but it appears that God has other ideas! With large hail expected, our car is safely ensconced in the car shed, and I can relax knowing that we are all safe and warm at home.

A Chill in the Air

Has anyone noticed a very definite chill in the air? ‘Tis only autumn here,  but already I have a long sleeved blouse, pink woollen jacket, a heavy corded jacket, long skirt and socks – I know, not a good look, but socks are delightfully warm.

The skies are a bleak, dismal, grey, but praise God, for with the grey clouds come the rain, and we have had about 13 millimetres (over half an inch) – wahoo! The temperature here has dropped dramatically during the last couple of days, and I fear that we’re in for a long, cold winter.

In South Australia, the whole state stops just for the Adelaide Cup, which is a horse racing meeting. Fancy that – fancy stopping just for a horse race! Preposterous! Utterly absurd! Think what effect that this holiday is having on our state’s economy.

Do we stop homeschooling for the day? Nope, we’re not stopping our lives for a horse race. Our homeschooling day is happening just as usual – maths, English, Bible, social studies, science and computer. What about you – do you take the holidays as they come, or perhaps only some of them? Are you strongly opinionated about some of the holidays, or don’t you care either way?

With the Dust…

There was a yell from my daughter, “Shut the windows – there’s a dust storm!” We couldn’t even see the paddock across the road, but we managed to shut the windows just in time to stop the dust from pervading every square inch of our home, and just as quickly as it started, it was over. With the dust comes the rain, and the temperature has dropped rather dramatically outside. Mmm, I love the smell of the rain on the stubbly paddocks.

SO

We are really looking forward to a good downpouring of rain, as our rainfall for the year has been only about ten millimetres. Praise God that He knows what we have need of, before we even ask!

‘Tis Supposed to be Summer

I thought that this was supposed to be summer??? Today it has been back to winter weather, with everybody rugged up in jumpers again. Mind you, I’m not grumbling – I LOVE the cooler weather. The photo (above left) was taken facing west, and the one on the right was taken facing east from our driveway.

I love the change in seasons – I love the soft caramel of stubble in the fields – I love the harsh contrast between the lush green paddocks of winter and the dry and parched landscape of summer. God created seasons for a reason, and in Genesis 8:22, He says, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

I Thought that it was Nearly Summer???