As Fay sits in the near-shore Atlantic ocean churning, bubbling, and spinning, she spews forth wind and rain. In fact, there are folks just south of here that are using words and phrases like “unprecedented amounts of rain,” and “2 feet of rain,” and “as much rain in the last 24-36 hours as the last 6 months combined.” So much for being “just a tropical storm.”
I made the statement the other day to my wife that “if it spins counter-clockwise and has an eye, then it’s a hurricane…plain and simple.” Northern Hemisphere myopia, I know, but deal with it!!!
To the left is a picture of what Fay looks like. Call it what you want...it's a hurricane in my book! Beautiful, actually, isn't it? Here in Jacksonville we started to experience the effects of Fay on Monday. Temperatures were a little cooler, skies were a little overcast. Tuesday we had not overcast conditions, but cloud cover. I’m guessing you know the difference. Not only that, but the clouds took an interesting westerly route making for strange air currents and rain patterns.It is now Thursday and we are in full “nor-easter” conditions. Rain coming out of the northeast as Fay spins centered around the Daytona area with the eye approaching St. Augustine. We’re getting some of that “sideways rain” Forrest Gump talked about. It’s been raining since Tuesday, but it hasn’t been so much the rain as the wind that has been strange. We’ve been experiencing 20-40 mph winds for 3 days now and it has become part of the background…you know, like the hum of your refrigerator or the sound of your air conditioner…background noise. It’s not “batten down the hatches” windy, but it’s been consistent nonetheless.
We have Pirates of the Caribbean in one room, Spongebob in another room, and either the weather or the Olympics in yet another room…all going on at the same time while I make attempts to research topics on prayer. Hmmmmm. Maybe I should just pray, huh? It is interesting how we get used to the noise. In fact, The Noise becomes our friend, our confidant, our tie to our carnal selves giving us ready made excuses for not hearing that still, quiet voice. We get used to our stuff: our homes, our jobs, our money, our beds, our children…all ready made excuses to not do as God wills (how easily do we exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship created things rather than the creator). Have we forgotten that God owns it all?
Something interesting happened today. I went to my bedroom where I could no longer hear the ear-piercing laughter of Spongebob, the greedy hand-wringing scheming of Mr. Krabs, the nasally whine of the ever depressing Squidword, and the audible lack of brain power from Patrick Star…and then I turned off the television and listened to the wind. I had silence around me except for the rushing of Fay’s outermost rings of fury accompanied by the sounds of raindrops hitting the windows, the trees, the street, the puddles. I actually drew up the shades of our bedroom window so I could watch Fay dump herself all over us. The rain was again minimal, but the wind drove what rain there was sideways with persistence.
And then it stopped.
For a full 30 seconds there was an interesting combination of non events that took place that sort of freaked me out. The wind stopped. There was no rain. Spongebob shut up for once. Andrew quit playing with the dog. The dog was no longer audibly breathing. The Pirates stopped Arrrggggguing. The air conditioning reached its maximal coolness and quit running. For this stretch of time no cars went up and down the roads outside my house. It was, as I said, an interesting, serendipitous combination of non events that had my head spinning. How quickly can all our stuff go away? As quickly as The Noise had gone, how much more quickly could The Noise of our lives be squelched?
Have you ever been to Carlsbad Caverns, or any other caverns for that matter, and had the tour guide turn off the lights for awhile? In an instant you literally cannot see your hand when you put it up to your face. And it does not take long before some spark of panic sets in. People to your right and left deal with it by chuckling a little as though laughing makes the light come in. Others chime in with words of amazement at how absolutely dark it is…again, as though by their words they are reaffirming their own actual existence since our major sensory organ has been rendered useless. Others do not feign their panic and they outright tell the tour guide to turn the lights on or else!!!
The lights come back on and everyone is at peace…sort of. I have never forgotten that feeling of utter darkness from oh so many years ago…that’s how much impact it has.
Apply that to the world of hearing now. You can still see. In fact, you can still hear…or at least you still have the ability to hear…but there just is nothing to hear! It really was a strange event! The Noise of life was snuffed out. I strained to hear…but I was straining to hear rain or wind or rustling leaves, or air conditioning or refrigerators, or my own children, or a car on the road…I was straining to hear The Noise instead of allowing this momentous cacophony of silence to stir me to strain to hear God in the whispers which He speaks to each of us.
Test failed?
I guess it depends on how you look at it. I’m writing this blog entry aren’t I? Test failed? Nah!
Lesson learned!!
