A few days ago I had just risen from my chair to go to the great room for a cup of coffee. I really stood up and took notice, stopping dead in my tracks. There came a sudden crack of lightning with a deafening roar of thunder. All at the same time. That was not only close, it had to be right on top of us. My immediate worry was if there was any damage.

Suddenly, came the sharp rap of many knocks on our door. I hurried to greet whatever bad news was waiting for us. It was a neighbor. He wanted to know if we were all right. He had seen the lightning bolt strike a transformer up on Hickory Star Road above our house. That was what I had heard. What a relief. We were okay.

This brought back memories of another lightning strike of close to fifty years ago. We had just built our new house on a country road. Our power came in underground from a pole across the road. It was a new thing back them. Would help prevent power outages, they said.

Not so with that lightning strike. It hit the transformer, too, and followed the line into our house. The transformer was gone. No part of it was ever found. That was not all. I had been standing in the front hallway watching the approaching storm. With that lightning strike, fire shot out of the electrical outlet near the floor in front of me. It came out in about a two foot long stream. Instantly, quiet returned. That was the only lightning strike. I began to check the house for more damage.

There was no fire. The outlet was smoke covered, but undamaged. Not so our television in the kitchen. It was fried. My husband, who worked nights, came out of the bedroom with a look of panic on his face. We were both relieved to find no further damage. Of course, it would be several days before power returned. The pole was damaged. That meant a new pole as well as a new transformer. With so much damage in the area, it was a while before power returned to our country road.

But there was more damage. It just hadn't showed up with that first walk through. In my canning kitchen downstairs, occasionally I would get a strong shock when I turned on the cold water faucet. I told my husband. He laughed that it was all in my head. There was no such thing. He would turn on the faucet with no problem. But then, he felt a stab of pain when he touched the faucet a month or so later. It suddenly was real for him.

We found that our deep well pump was damaged and had to be replaced. It would run and pump water. Just that when it kicked in, a surge of power would flow back through the water lines. Woe to anyone touching a faucet at that time. We bought a new pump.

One of the problems of living a long time is that often something comes to mind that happened before. It seems that there is nothing new under the sun. I put my trust in our Lord and He protects us. But I still get the shivers when I see dark clouds come over the ridge.