Recently our family was reminded of how powerful our God is. The hail storm of 2009 will not be one too quickly forgotten. I think of God's power and realize that everyone that lives on this planet gets to witness it. Whether you are an atheist or an evil dictator in Iraq there is one of God's blessings that He refuses no one. The beauty of His nature was surely admired by Saddam Hussein as he awoke each morning. Can't you see him retreating to his peaceful garden inside the gates of his palace, or admiring the sand dunes with palm trees and blazing hot temperatures. When we think of God living among us today and working in our lives I believe He is most visible in nature. As we watched our sky-light shatter and golf ball size hail crash into our bathroom we quickly understood God's power. Thirty-six hours later I find hail still visible from the storm while temperatures have never been below sixty degrees.
Yesterday we decided that it was time to start cleaning up the mess. It was interesting to note that what looked like leaves on the ground were actually small twigs with leaves still attached. The hail had done some natural pruning on our giant front yard ash tree. Michelle began the clean up with a large leaf rake in hand. I decided to take the more modern approach and use the leaf blower. After blowing the leaves for several minutes it was obvious Michelle had the better tool. She was making quick progress, but not to be out done I figured out that I simply needed to hold the blower closer to the ground. Wow! This was very efficient! Now I was making huge progress while bent at the waist and looking at the ground. After we got the leaves into piles I decided to take an evening jog. Usually my jog is more of a walk/waddle....but not tonight! I jogged two miles without waddling! Hooray!
This morning I am sorrowful to say that more damage has been done. Oh, the house is fine and the skies are blue....my back however??? I shall now invest in another leaf rake.
