“People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:26).

Well, after 27 hours of no electricity, the power is finally back on in Elkinsville. It all started with a drunk driver taking out a power pole and leaving us and 4,400 of our neighbors in the dark.

I knew my freezer would hold its cold for about 24 hours and then it would be time to fire up the generator. At the 24-hour mark, I laid out electrical cords to the freezer and our fridge and readied them to plug in once the generator kicked in. As I finished pulling the starter cord for the 20^th time, the generator finally started and the freezer, fridge, and their contents were safe once again.

As I was pulling the starter cord, the Lord said, “You’ll have power at 4:00 a.m.” Just like Spirit-led clockwork, the power came on at 4:00. The generator was finally on, and my T-bones were safe.

This is no joke, as I was writing the last sentence exclaiming with joy the return of our power, it went out again. We entered once more a candle-lit world for the next ten minutes. And then, without warning, the power came back. I will leave my electrical cords and generator in place until the utility guys have it all figured out. 

The most stable appearing things in this life are fragile and at times unreliable. Our power outage drove home that point in uncomfortable surround sound. I realized once again, any offer of security in this world apart from our relationship with Jesus, is merely an illusion, no matter how well we have prepared for the failure of a promised provision. All our preparations will eventually have an expiration date.

The writer of Hebrews lets us know that all things will be shaken to reveal to us their fragile and untrustworthy nature. The only thing that will remain stable until the final shaking takes place will be the nature of God, His Kingdom, and the promises He made regarding His people and their future.

For the last 27 hours it was revealed to me that I had developed a shortened temper toward my situation and let out a few less-than-kind words toward Jan. The sounds of confession and repentance could be heard in the darkness.

My short emotional shelf life made me take stock of what I truly possess that is stable and unwavering in its reliability. That assessment will always come down to Jesus and our trust in His faithfulness, and nothing more. Once we reaffirm Jesus as our only reliable and trustworthy source for life, the lights will come on in our darkened hearts and our impatient negative responses to the momentary inconveniences of life. This will shift everything because the Light of the World will have made His presence known and illuminated our darkest moments with hope.