LESSONS FROM THE BLACKOUT
I and about 50 million other people, will always remember Thursday, August 14th, 2003 as the day the power went out. I was in my office at the time. All of a sudden the computer and lights went off and the security and fire alarms started their buzzing and squeaking. While I was shutting them up, I heard the phone ring in the anemic way it does when it has no power. It was Jim Dewar, my buddy in Maryland. He had been watching CNN and heard that New York, Detroit, Toronto and Ottawa had lost their power. My first thought was, "Oh, no, this is going to be a while!" I locked up the church building and began walking home, praising God that I live close enough to walk because all the traffic lights in the city were out - just at the start of rush hour - what a mess!
As I walked home, I noticed there was a silence to the city that even the horns and car engines couldn't cover. It's hard to explain, but there's a hum to the city. It's in the overhead lines, in the lights, in the electrical appliances that surround us. Most of the time we don't even notice the hum, but when the hum stopped the city became strangely unfamiliar. It was like Toronto went into cardiac arrest! It gave me an uneasy feeling.
That night we were visiting a couple in our church family. After supper (BBQ) we all went for a bit of a walk around their neighbourhood and stopped to talk to a TTC Streetcar driver who had been stranded with his electric chariot since the power went out. People had dropped off water for him and he was telling us that he would most likely have to stay there until someone came to pick up the money bag. Like the captain of a stranded ship, he kept watch.
By the time we finished talking with him, it was dark. Trying to walk home, without any lights, was an interesting challenge. Fortunately, our path intersected with our Home Depot. Handy Home Depot had a generator, so they were still open and collecting people like moths to a flame. We were able to buy some disposable flashlights to get us home.
When we got to our street the area was completely dark except for some flashing taillights from a SUV parked on the wrong side of the road. Instead of the normal grey flickering lights of televisions shining through the windows we walked by, all you could see were the yellowish flickerings of a few candles.
When we arrived at our house, the neighbours were camped out on the front steps. They had an elegant candelabra perched on the sidewalk with some hastily purchased drippy dollar store candles lighting the area around them. It looked like a shrine of some sort. There was just enough light to make them identifiable shadows with yellow-red faces.
Across the street I heard the sound of a generator and saw lights in a building I had always thought was commercial space. One of the neighbours told me that unknown to the city, that seemingly commercial building was, in fact, secret loft apartments. The building was never rezoned for residential use, but there you have it, people are living there anyway. I wondered who these loft people are and why I never see any of them entering or leaving that building?
For the next while we stood outside and talked with our neighbours and with those who were walking through our area on their journey somewhere else. Eventually we went for a stroll down Dundas Street - just to see what was happening. Vesuvio's was doing a great business because their gas pizza ovens were still working.
It was about 11:30 by that time, but everyone was out. No one wanted to miss whatever it was that was happening. Many were sitting on lawn chairs in front of the stores they live above. They dotted the street with candles of all sizes and descriptions. People were smiling, walking around, stopping and talking to one another. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. It really was quite wonderful in a way. Still, I spent some time in prayer for those stuck in elevators and the subway and for the fire and police departments that were clearly busy because you could hear their sirens everywhere - not to mention the hydro crews who wouldn't have any rest for who knows how long.
When we finally went to sleep it was a strange kind of sleep, more because of the darkness than the heat - although the heat didn't help! It was the first time I could lie in our bed and see more than two or three stars in the sky!
Friday morning we got up and went for a walk. Actually, we called it a walk, but since our power was still out, it was more of a search for coffee. On our way back home, with extra-large coffees in hand, this group rushed up to us and a young lady immediately asked us where we had purchased our coffees. By the sound in her voice, we could tell that our answer had just given her hope for the day. We finally got our power back around 9:00 o'clock Saturday morning. Almost 40 hrs had passed.
OK, what are some of the lessons
From the Blackout of 2003?
Well, the first lesson has to be that life is much more fragile than we think. It's human nature to think that every day will be business as usual. We trust that each morning, when we wake up, our days will be predictable and manageable. For the most part they are. That's why it is easy for us to rely on what we see, but relying on what we see is a mistake. Relying on the world we have created is dangerous because eventually we will be caught off guard. Well, on Thursday afternoon our "to do" lists went out the window. All of a sudden, something as routine as the drive home became a challenge far greater than what we ever anticipated. Life is far more fragile than we think.
We need to remember that what we see isn't what will last. It is changeable, fleeting, and temporary. That's why the Bible says that we should "Fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."(2 Corinthians 4:18).
The second lesson we should learn from the blackout is that we're interdependent. We're connected. At 4:11 pm our power went out in Toronto because at 4:00 o'clock somewhere in northern Ohio there was an electrical problem that quickly spread throughout six different electrical grids. The blackout is an amazing picture of a spiritual truth. The Bible says about the Church, "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." (Romans 12:4, 5)
To put it in the jargon of what we have been hearing on the news the last few days, we could say that each of our grids is interconnected. If one of us burns out, it affects all of us! That's why a little further down in this same passage we read: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."(Romans 12:15) We're interconnected. We're joined together. We belong to each other. When one power station blows, it takes down the entire grid. God doesn't just look at you as an individual; He also looks at you as part of His body. So, your spiritual walk affects the spiritual walk of the others as well. It isn't just me and God. We're connected to others. That means we will either strengthen or weaken the other Christians around us - something to think about!
We also learned that we need power! Kind of an obvious lesson, eh? No one in Toronto, or Detroit, or New York is going to argue that point. I doubt very much that our experience from the last couple of days has made anyone decide to give up electricity! Every one of the 50 million who walked through this experience with me is much more conscious of how dependent they are on electricity.
For the past few days we have had thousands of dollars of useless junk in our houses because there was no power to plug them into. There really isn't any use or value for anything electrical, unless there is electricity.
Why do electrical gadgets need electricity? It is a matter of design. Electrical appliances were designed to work in conjunction with electricity. There is a built in dependence, a built in relationship, that's required for them to work and fulfill their purpose.
Well, guess what? It's the same for us as well. We are designed to be dependent on the power of God. It is only through the power which Jesus brings to the table that we can find and live the life that God intended.
The Apostle Peter put it this way, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness..." (2 Peter 1:3) Without the power that only God provides through Jesus, we will never be able to do anything we were created to accomplish. We will never be able to relate to God or obey His will.
When you think about it, doesn't it strike you as odd that we are so dependent on something we can't even see? I mean, you can't see electricity. Oh, you might be able to see some occasional sparks or sniff some ozone, but for most part all we see is the infrastructure in which the invisible flows. We see the power lines, but not the power. Isn't it a little silly to be dependent on something we can't even see? Of course it isn't. Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't real, right? As Christians, we know that! Jesus said, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."(John 3:8)
Remember also that you and I are God's infrastructure. You and I are all that people have to look at to see the power of the invisible God at work. How connected are you? Are you part of the grid, or has your faith and witness blown a fuse? The power to shine is available, all you have to do is plug in and let God's power flow through you!
If you have any thoughts or comments, email me by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page and I promise to write back.
