This is our third day without electricity in Fayetteville, Arkansas, along with thousands of others in the region as the result of an ice storm. I'm at my office today (Saturday), as I came to work on my meeting's budget for this year. There hadn't been power at the office so I have been working from a coffeehouse at Hastings. I'm almost embarassed to admit how good it felt when I flipped the switch at work this morning, and the lights actually came on! I've been feeling a little depressed by this whole "freezing in the dark" situation, but we are lucky -- no major damage that I know of to our house. A fairly large branch did fall on the roof, so there may be some damage, but probably not major. A friend had a tree limb literally come through her ceiling.

I've been reading Exodus along with all the other 1-Year-Bible readers. Yesterday and today we got through the various plagues. Going without electricity? Of course that wouldn't have been a deprivation to the Egyptians or Hebrews, or for most people throughout history. On the other hand, we moderns use electricity. Its scary to find out how dependent we are on it, though its also been fun managing without -- cooking with propane and heating with firewood. Walking my dog at night, the stars were very bright, and my suburban subdivision seemed more rural -- like walking through a well-populated forest.

I'm asking, what is God saying here? Although Northwest Arkansas has been declared a "disaster" area, our family is blessedly "disaster-free." And today the sun is shining. But I've still found this more of a challenge than I would have thought -- a spiritual one. Just prior to this, I was "voted out" of one of the bands I play in. While I also wanted to leave the group, this too was a little more wrenching than I'd expected. I feel God saying, "turn to me." Whether or not there's power in the electric lines, there is still "life and power" coming through.

Now I really better get that budget done.