What I Learned When the Lights Went Out

Have you ever gone a week without electricity? I never did. Until last week that is. Many in our Little River, Kansas community who live out in the country are still out and probably won't get help until after the New Year.

But now that the power at my house and town are back on, here's a few lessons I've realized:

I value routine more than I imagined. Sure it's nice to bust out and try something different, but when the power goes out, it changes all your routines. We always struggle to get our kids in bed by 8:30pm, but the first night of no electricity, we were all in bed by 7:00pm. When the house and town is utterly pitch black, there's not much else to do.

It's nice to have relatives. That is, relatives who are close by and ones you get along with. If it wasn't for my sister-in-law's family in Wichita letting us camp out at there place, our uncomfortable situation would have been much worse. Be nice to your extended family. You might need them one day!

It was bad, but not that bad. When you lose something you take for granted, you begin to count your blessings about other basics you do have. We still had a roof over our head, warm blankets, and food to eat. Many cities in foreign countries constantly deal with inconsistent electric supplies. And the early Kansas settlers never had it either. But they still managed. And so did we.

You can still worship the Lord. On the one Sunday that Little River didn't have power, our church met with the United Methodists for a joint service at the Catholic Parish Hall, which was hooked up with a generator. 52 people came to sing, pray, and hear God's Word. In the middle of hardship, we found encouragement from the Lord and each other.

The bottom line lesson: Even without, God still provides.