Powerless? Not really!

Al and I were looking forward to riding in an organized bike ride again this year, after its cancellation in 2020. We had ridden the twenty-two-mile route in 2018 and 2019 along with dozens of cyclists. With the Lord’s help, I managed to ride the whole distance both times, although it certainly was a big stretch.

Of course, there was the option of riding home at the halfway point, which happened to be at the park just down the street from our house. However, experienced volunteers from various bike clubs participated, setting a pace that wasn’t too fast thankfully. The rest break at the park helped too.

 After debating whether or not I was ready for it this year, I finally made up my mind to sign up again. At that point there were only two weeks left before the actual day arrived. Al was a good coach and encourager as we prepared …and there was plenty of heartfelt praying too.

Then something unexpected happened. A few days before the event, a powerful storm came through the area, knocking down trees and power lines, and causing outages for thousands of homes. Our lights blinked off, refrigerator whirred to a halt  and computer shut down on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30, just after I had finished sending off my weekly “ Good News!” article to the Porterville Recorder. Whew! Thank you, Lord!

We were in quite a fix, because the automatic garage door opener wouldn’t work. The car, both bikes and bike rack were all safely locked inside the garage. When Al tried to open the door manually, he discovered that the cable had been disconnected.  With no other entrance to the garage, it seemed that we would have to wait for the power to be restored.

On Thursday morning, two couples from our little backyard “Zoom” church group dropped by to see if they could help. No use, it wouldn’t open.  One couple, the Verhages, returned with bags of crushed ice for the refrigerator and then generously offered the use of their extra car. They had lost power too; however, they were able to get their cars out of the garage!

Then the second couple, Robin and Steve Read, invited the Verhages and us to dinner that evening. In addition to the meal, they even offered us the use of their bikes so that we could go ahead with the ride on Saturday morning!

By that time, we had pretty much decided that we wouldn’t be riding unless the power company was able to fix the downed lines by Friday evening. It had been projected that the power wouldn’t be back on until late Saturday night, too late for the ride.

Some items from the refrigerator and freezer were taken over to our daughter’s house on Friday morning. During the afternoon another friend  came by with a generator, hoping to back- feed electricity from the circuit panel in the basement to the switch in the garage. That didn’t work either unfortunately.

 Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful, but there still was no power in the neighborhood.  We showed up at the starting point of the ride to cheer on our three recruits along with some of their other support team members. After pictures, speeches from the organizers and a blessing of the bikes, the riders took off. 

It was a disappointing turn of events, although I think Al was the more disappointed of the two of us. We ran a few errands and got home just in time to wave to the parade of cyclists as they came down our street on the way to the park.

 Who could have predicted a prolonged power outage, when just a few days earlier we were sitting outside in a beautiful flower garden listening to a concert by Shanda’s quartet from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra? Life certainly has its ups and downs, doesn’t it?

But through it all, the Lord remains faithful and constant. His love never fails and His power is always available to those who call on His name. And He often uses His servants to provide help when most needed. We are grateful!

“God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46:1-2 NIV