"Why Isn't Everything ON FIRE?" and the Original Water-Derived Power Source

People who don’t know where their power is sourced have probably never had to ask. Admittedly, most of my life I hadn’t the faintest idea.

When we first visited Southeast Asia, I was struck by the innumerable electrical wires tangled up like piles of fresh spaghetti on forks high in the air. I remember wondering: where does all this electricity come from? Where does it go? Why isn't everything ON FIRE? 

This week, our neighborhood has been without power six or more hours each day due to a rotating blackout schedule. We are the lucky few with a generator in our apartment complex that runs intermittently throughout the day, keeping our food from spoiling.  Friends, 95 degrees is hot with an enormous fan pointed in your direction. Without it, well, that’s another level of sanctification.

Turns out half of Cambodia’s power is generated by hydroelectric conversion. Also turns out the nations' many rivers are flowing much slower than usual due to a severe drought and record high temperatures. Which means the entire region is looking at an especially hot, especially dry season with insufficient electric power (for more, check out this article in the Khmer Times). 

As I look out at our obscured neighborhood (photo taken at 8PM, when presumably many people are still awake), I am reminded of the incredible weight of darkness. How brightly light shines in the black of night! The words of the prophet Isaiah resonate through my mind:

"The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

    a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:2)."

May it be so! As we pray that physical rain would fall to end the drought and energy crisis, we also ask that spiritual rain would fall. We wait for the refreshing, life-giving, light-bringing Living Water, where all true power is sourced.

(LIFE Band, singing about The Rain of Heaven in Khmer)