While riding in our van earlier this evening, we encountered a fairly intense thunderstorm. The lightning was flashing all around us and the rain was coming down fairly hard. Each of the children started asking questions, such as “Can lightning strike us while we are driving in our car?” “If you are wearing rubber soled shoes can lightning strike you?” Then Hannah asked a very profound question, “Why did God make lightning?” Being the scientific genius that I am, I replied, “I don’t know.” As I drove down the road, my mind went back to my ninth grade Earth Science class. I realized that was 24 years ago and I couldn’t remember a whole lot about lightning. It is just something that I take for granted. I’ve seen the damage it can cause, and I’ve heard the horror stories of people being struck by it, so I know enough about it not to mess around during a storm. After a few moments, Hannah again spoke up. She said, “I prayed.” I knew what she meant. She had prayed for our safety first of all, but she had also prayed that it would stop which was evident on her little six year old face. We pulled into our neighborhood about ten minutes later and she excitedly exclaimed, “It stopped!” “How about that,” I replied, “you prayed that it would stop and it did.” She turned around to her sisters and again exclaimed, “I prayed that the rain would stop and it did!” Now, there may be some farmer that was praying for a bigger rain for his crops, but I’m glad the Lord heard the prayer of a little six year old girl. You may think, “Yeah, but it was probably going to stop any way.” Maybe so, but that is the way God works in our prayers. We’re never really sure what He is going to do. And on this night, the rain stopped.
Oh yeah, I got home and looked up lightning on Wikipedia. I realized that I’m not the only one that doesn’t understand lightning. Scientist are just now starting to discern what it is and why it strikes. I like to think of it as a relief of pressure as cold air and hot air collide. Something has to give, so BOOOOM!
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God probably answers more children’s prayers than adults
because they pray in faith. May we all have child like faith.
God created lightning to put nitrogen back into the soil. Notice how much greener the grass is after a thunderstorm than a regular rain storm. My 7 year old has been asking boo koos of ?s about why God created things that don’t appear to have any good in them so I have been busy doing research to ease her mind. God Bless!