beautiful

What a cool atmosphere that surrounds me right now. I'm perched below a window in my room, the window is cracked a bit so that I can hear the sound of the rain on the road next to my house, as well as the sizzle of the wires above my house - a sound that I know so well from growing up here! Outside, there is still snow on the ground, though a fair amount of it is now melted away because it is near 50 degrees outside. And it is thundering. Lightning too. In the middle of January. How amazing is that. A thunderstorm, 50 degree weather, in the middle of January.

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine - about just how much nature - weather in particular - amazes me. I mean, come on, my friend and I formed a weather station when were like 8 - what does that tell you! But in all seriousness, nature, weather in particular, amazes me. There's something so crazy beautiful about it.

I think I may have written on this topic once before... I can't remember. I know that this summer, while working at Starbucks, two girls who were regulars at the store told us about a storm they drove through on I-80 where they were head on with a tornado. I remember feeling such a thrill, desiring to be in that position. Until they began to tell me how frightened they were, how they weren't sure they were going to live. When I went out to California, I so wanted to experience an earthquake. Not a major one, but a minor one. When I first heard about the tsunami - I thought to myself - oh man, I would have given anything to see a wave like that. This was before I realized the devastation that it caused. And storms... Tornados, flooding, mudslides... All of these things that intrigue me, cause such devastation.

So often, I wonder why God created such things. He created such beautiful things, that bring so much destruction. Then, I began to think about humans. Such beatiful things, that bring about such destruction.

I don't want to be a "downer" here. I apologize for such a heavy thought. However, I've just been thinking about how much more damage I've done than good, and how do I puruse goodness. It was something amazing that I learned at the conference I went to. Louie Giglio said, "It is Christ IN us, not Christ AND us." I began to think that maybe I'd bring more good if it was Christ bringing more good... Not me trying. Louie talked about how so often Christians live a life of "self-trying". That hit me hard. How often do I try to "do something good" or try to "be good" instead of just letting Christ live in me, and not just using him as a resource for my decision making.

Again, a bit of heavy thought, but what else are you supposed to do on days like this - thunderstorm days deem deep thought days! hehehe... I'm just goofing around. But, these were thoughts in my head, and I felt I should share.
Where to go from here, I'm not sure.
Join a disaster relief agency?
:)