Wednesday, September 14

To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it....He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Deut. 10:14, 21

 

 

 

This time of year, I'm always overwhelmed by God's creation. Spring has arrived, but not in the way I'm used to watching spring unfold in America. The mango trees have lost their fringes of yellow flowers and now sport tiny green mangoes. Instead of the sun rising directly in front of our porch, it is swinging farther and farther south, rising earlier, and bringing its light to my clothesline earlier as it clears the south end of the house. By December, Aaron and I will be watching the sunrise from our bedroom window on the south end of the house.

The trade winds are still blowing strongly, threatening to blow all of my laundry off the line and hustling any rain clouds far away from our thirsty ground and rapidly emptying rain tanks. In another month, the stiff breeze will subside, and we should be able to expect more regular rain. You would think that in a country as small as the Solomon Islands, the weather would be similar across the double island chain. But when we chat on the radio with our colleagues, we hear about their constant rain and clouds. They watch their solar-charged batteries carefully, while we have to keep an eye on the rain tanks.

 

Tonight, God's amazing creation gave us a good shake. After church, several of us were outside giving precious water to the veggies trying to grow in raised beds. Aaron and I heard what sounded like thunder, and one of our neighbors said, “Earthquake's coming!” Sure enough, we soon felt a big nudge like somebody had bumped into our island, then the earth continued to roll for just a few minutes. I watched our solar panels sway high on their pole. When they finally stilled, I knew the earthquake was over.