Lightning bolts and storm clouds

I love adventure. The thrill of the unknown and unfamiliar brings out a part of me that’s both exciting and a little reckless. One of my favorite places is the airport. The sense of adventure is so strong that you can almost taste it. The most exciting aspect of airports is knowing that I’m about to embark on my own adventure. Just the plane ride itself is full of excitement for me.

Despite the stuffy air, interesting smells and cramped spaces of an airplane, I can be completely content as long as I have a window seat. My absolute favorite part of flying is looking out the window and being able to see the twists and turns of the highways, the curves of the rivers and the clouds that are so thick beneath you, you could sit on them. It makes the earth seem so huge and the lives we live below seem so small.

One of the most amazing things that I have ever seen during a flight was when I was coming back from Mexico one summer. After watching the sun go down, which was amazing in and of itself, the sky became so dark that the black clouds and the sprinkle of the city lights below were the only things I could see. And then the storm began.

We were far enough away from it that it didn’t really affect our flight, but we were close enough to be able to watch it. I remember looking out my window at one particular cloud as the lightning began. I watched as the bolt escaped the cloud and then disappeared just as quickly. The same process happened again and again, and each time I was just as captivated.

I realized in that moment how amazing our God is. You know these things in your head, but when you get to experience firsthand something amazing like that and realize that he is in control of it all, that he created it all, it really puts you in your place. Watching the storm rage from above the clouds made me feel small. It made me realize that I am not in control of my life the way that I think I am. I cannot control the storms that come, and I cannot control where and when the lightning will strike. That sentence would be so frightening to me if it just ended with that period. But praise God it doesn’t! I do not have to be afraid of the storm. I can’t control it, but God is always in control. I can ride the adventures of this life without being afraid of the storms that come.