Yikes! We Lost Power One Night And ---

 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."   --- John 16:13

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So around June 6th I watched Mornings With Granny. This episode.

Granny showed us her cute battery-operated fan collection for power outages, you know, the type designed to keep one person cool.

Also, she held up a large package of D batteries she'd bought for powering the fans.

"Wise woman," I thought, having just seen warnings about more blackouts (rolling and otherwise) than ever coming this summer, especially to the West and Midwest. But hey, we don't live there.

But the next day I showed Granny's video to Tom. A big gadget collector himself, I wanted him to see her cute fans.

"We should look into battery-operated fans," we both said. "And how are we doing on batteries?"

Yet in nearly 11 years here at Hobbit Cottage only twice had we lost power for more than 2 minutes. "Power is super-reliable here!", I've always quipped. "Only once did it go out for a whole half hour."

Well, guess what? Five days later, on Saturday evening of June 12th, 8,000 local homes lost power. Ours was one.

I awoke at the silence of the box fan outside my door. Being 8:45 and darkening outside, I grabbed the flashlight from the drawer beside my bed and made my way downstairs. The flashlight kept blinking, turning off. sigh.

Downstairs, already Tom was walking around with his head lamp. heh.

To shorten this story, we discovered-- 

Half our flashlights had dead batteries. 

Two of my three battery-operated wall sconce lights weren't working. 

We had only a few AA and D batteries.

We owned no personal fans (which we could've received from Amazon by then)

I'd not placed water jugs in our basement freezer to help keep items frozen longer since again, "Power is super-reliable here!"

We did have tons of votive candles and matches, oh, and food, of course. So. Much. Food. So hey...  シ

Now fortunately, the night was coolish and power was restored precisely at midnight (now that's not suspicious, right?). 

And Honey, you can bet that over the next days we-- 

sent for our own cute little fans ( here, in black)

and batteries 

and my 3 sconces all work now. Here's one:

... as well as our flashlights 

and there are frozen water jugs in the freezer downstairs.

"A wake-up call," I told Tom. "We had a wake-up call." We'll probably look into a generator, but not the kind people can walk off with since our backyard is open to the whole wide world. Not gonna work for us and probably too close to our neighbor's house sound-wise. A whole house generator would have to wait till next year since we're having our basement water-proofed and if I said how much that costs, you'd faint, so ....

Anyway. Believe it or don't, this post is not about prepping for an uncertain summer. Honest!

No, it's more about paying attention and acting upon the help, the wisdom, God sends us before we even need it (there's the test). 

If we desire His ways more than ours? Always He tries to warn us ahead so we can skip avoidable hard times.

Through books and teachers and others' stories (wise or foolish), etc., the Holy Spirit tries to spare us from trouble ahead. 

"Better start moving your body!" He warns. Or--

"You're spending all that money? Now?"

"Forgive. It'll set you free."

"Living on desserts probably isn't the best idea."

"How's the prepping for emergencies coming along?"

"How's creating your own good/wise/interesting life going?"

"Your words. You're much too quick with your words."

"You've not seen a dentist in how long?"

Most times? Wonderful things come to those who listen. Obey. Crave the wisdom of that still, small voice.

But those who wait only until warnings become blaringly loud and obvious, oh dear. Usually by then, a sad reaping occurs of what was sown.

And who wants to lose the beautiful life that might have been?

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."   --- 2 Timothy 1:7

Oh, and 2 days after the blackout we watched a video where the young man recommended those gel things you keep in the freezer then place around your neck to keep cool. Tom said, "Well, that's something we already have, anyway."  ツ

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Had to smile.

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Ever wondered what Kyoto, Japan is like? Here's a fun video of when Cash Jordan and his family visited there. 

(The playground reminded me of the good old days. You know, like this) -- シ

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15