It’s January 1, 1966 in Buffalo, NY. I’m a really geeky little kid with a highly developed sense of guilt. On New Year’s Day I decide to go to church. Alone, since the rest of the family is sleeping. I get dressed and walk down the stairs. The EXACT INSTANT I set my foot on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, the whole house shakes!! I can see the tree from there, and every ornament is shaking back & forth.
I am FREAKED OUT! I’m certain that God is speaking directly to me, sending me a message about just how bad I am. If I put that other foot on the floor, the whole house, with my family asleep upstairs, could just sink into the bowels of hell.
What do I do? I turn tail and go back upstairs as quick as I can. I get under the covers in bed (did I bother to put my pajamas back on?), shaking. I probably said about a million prayers, quaking in fear the whole time.
I don’t think I ever mentioned anything to my family; I didn’t want them to know just how bad I was, how close they’d come to a fiery death.
When I returned to school after Christmas break, the science teacher asked if anyone had felt the rare earthquake on New Year’s Day. WHAT?! Earthquake?! This is Buffalo! I had no knowledge at that point that Buffalo sat on a fault line — the ground had been completely stable all my life. No one else in class was apparently up & felt it, but I sure did. That earthquake is a documented fact – it was a class 6!
Much as I was hugely relieved that there was a scientific explanation for the jiggling tree, I think I was also just a tiny bit disappointed that I wasn’t powerful enough to shake the entire house with my behavior.
Your turn – did you feel that earthquake? Have any other weird, freaky childhood New Year’s memories?
I’m pretty sure if you ask any of my highschool friends they’d all concur that you’re more than capable of summoning powers seemingly beyond your small stature.
If any of them knew you’d caused an earthquake I probably wouldn’t have had any friends at all.
Yes, it was an earthquake but WHY was there a class 6 earthquake at that precise moment, hmmmm? I’m just suggesting that you may have been a part of God’s Plan, perhaps even the catalyst?? After all, it always IS about US!