Shake, Rattle and Roll

June 20, 2005

The Shaking: This was a memorable week. It began last Sunday with the earthquake everyone felt just before we arrived at church. Anita and I did not feel it, because we were in our car on the way to church. I now know tires and car motion mask the shaking, at least for moderate quakes. Before the week was over, five earthquakes rocked our world. I remembered what Vince Howley, my friend and President of U-Save Auto Rental in Baltimore said in 1998 when I told him I was moving to California; "Just remember, Bill, when the big one comes, they will be selling oceanfront property in Las Vegas." Actually, we have dozens of earthquakes every day. Thank goodness we only feel a few each year. Five in a week is a bit much, even for California.

The Rattling: Whereas the quakes have become almost routine, even for a transplanted Mississippian, there was an event this week that rattled my cage. Tuesday night I was in Irvine. On my way back to San Diego, the radio announcer broke in over my "oldies music". "The Weather Bureau has issued a Tsunami warning for San Diego County." Even for an old country boy, that is something you don't hear every day! Of course, I was driving on I-5, just past San Juan Capistrano. For the next thirty minutes, I would be hugging the fabulous Pacific coastline until I passed Oceanside. So what do you do when you are in your car on an interstate highway, and the weather bureau (yes, I said weather bureau...guess they are in charge of tsunamis) issues a tsunami warning? Reminded me of the bomb shelter at Yazoo City High School in the 1960s. It was an 18 x 15 foot tin building that was supposed to save all 600 students when Captain Boris of the KGB dropped the big bomb on Yazoo City. Otherwise, we were told to drop under our desks when we saw the big flash. (T-Baby dropped under his desk every time a passing vehicle backfired.) I will not soon forget the surreal world that tsunami warning created until the "all clear" came just as I made it past Oceanside where I-5 turns safely away from the Pacific coastline.

The Rolling: Anita flew to Las Vegas Tuesday night. After my all morning meeting Wednesday in Spring Valley, I drove toward Vegas to join her for a couple days of vacation. T.J. Kramer, Greg's brother, invited me to stop at his home in Silver Lakes. This was a good half way place to break up the five hour drive. I exited I-15 (and civilization) at Victorville, taking the famous Route 66 toward Barstow. The landscape would make a great backdrop for a post nuclear movie. Like the Mississippi Delta, I recognized a subtle beauty. Just when I began to fear I would die in the desert, like a mirage, Silver Lakes appeared out of nowhere. It is a beautiful, modern community, strangely out of place in that otherwise barren setting. After the refreshing visit at T.J.'s, I was better prepared for the remainder of my trip through the Mojave Desert, closeby Death Valley, and the mountain passes. Never have I seen so many cars racing so fast to "Lost Wages" Nevada.

All these experiences reminded me of God's immense power to create mountains, oceans, and deserts. Against this enormous expanse, I meditated upon His amazing Fatherly grace to note the falling of a sparrow, and numbering the hairs upon my balding head (the text for Father's Day). All these different strands reminded me that I am smaller than a gnat in the big scheme of things, totally powerless in the presence of earthquakes and tsunamis. Yet these stands reminded me I am the son of a Heavenly father who said, "Fear not..."

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