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?

Extreme Heatwave

It has been so hot here today, and the Bureau of Meteorology has promised us more of the same over the next few days. Yet, on the news tonight, Queensland is in the midst of a severe flood.

The temperature that I really enjoy the most is in the range from 30-35C. You see, I am a chronic asthmatic and I don’t perspire, so I just continually get hotter and hotter. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

However, the weather, when I went to school, was just as hot for a couple of weeks each year, and we didn’t even have air conditioning. I even remember swimming in the Murray River when I was a child. That was in the days when there was water to swim in!

Our children have given the swimming pool a real workout over the last few weeks, and undoubtedly will over the next few weeks, too. The decking is a wonderful asset (my husband did an excellent job installing it), and it has been interesting teaching our children how to dive into the water, so that we can avoid wasting water.

And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?