Illumination…

Tossing and turning, switching positions and switching again. Cramped backs and cricked necks.
That was me last night.

I finally dozed off around 1 in the morning, and I’m actually really glad that it was a light sleep. If it would have been sound, I would have missed the thunderstorm at 4:30 in the morning.

It wasn’t even a thunderstorm. It was more of a lightning storm. Talk about a light show! It was cooler than any fire works presentation I’ve ever seen.

I woke up, not sure I’d ever fallen asleep, and suddenly I became aware of a continuous flash of light out my window. At first I thought it was another train passing us, but then I saw the black trees illuminated from the white sky.

Whoa, I thought. This is so cool!

I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m not sure I can accurately depict a picture of it. It was as if with every flash of lightning, the darkness was peeled away, layer by layer. The sky would flash a dim white-gray, then suddenly a white flash, greater than the one before it, would make everything seem surreal – just for a moment.

If I listened hard, I could hear a deep, resonating sound, and for the first time I understood the term "rolling thunder". It was cooler than any drum I’ve heard, and I doubt the sound could ever be created synthetically.

I sat, curled up with my Mexico blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal (Silver!) and watched for about 15 minutes before the rain came. It was slow and light at first, just drizzling the window with tiny tap tap taps…

Then it came in waves. A million tiny tap tap taps turned into a loud chorus that would twitch from loud to quiet when queued to do so.

I watched and listened, squinting from a particularly bright flash.

"God, you’re amazing."I whispered that to the sky, a smile on my face. My heart felt like it was laughing.

I was listening to God’s symphony.

The sunrise the morning after

6:45 am - August 19th