When it rains, it pours...indoors?

Southern California has been getting pounded by rain, hail, snow, and wind.  There have been flash flood warnings and even tornado/water spout warnings.  Mudslides have begun right alongside mudflows.  Several of our friends have been evacuated from their hillside homes and we're only half-way through the storm.  It's been flat-out crazy!

As for us, we have not been evacuated--but we have a leaky ceiling.  When the rains really started on Monday, our ceiling decided that it just didn't want to hold the water out anymore.  While sitting on the couch enjoying a movie, we heard a weird sound and looked over just in time to see a small chunk of plaster fall from the ceiling and begin raining on everything below it.  We jumped into action: moving furniture, getting plastic down, and putting large pots underneath to catch all the rain.  Within the hour, several other spots on our ceiling decided to spring leaks, too.

This has been going on this entire week with the downpour outside.  A repair guy has been working feverishly to patch the problem--but that's just it...they're temporary patches that hold for a few hours and then give way.  It's disconcerting that he looks surprised anytime his patch works, even for a bit.  Hm...

So, I've cleared my schedule for the week to be on storm watch--in our living room.  When a leak springs, I run to grab yet another receptacle to catch it.  It's definitely been keeping me on my toes.  Oh, what a fun week it's been...

Even amidst all of this, we're very thankful that we have a home and that it's only leaking in the living room.  We both know it could be worse.  With all this in mind, we will still be praising God in this (literal) storm.

 ²⁸ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
 ²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
 ³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,and he guided them to their desired haven. (Psalm 107:28-30 NIV)

His Excellent Name

Psalm 8 (New King James Version)

To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.

 ¹ O LORD, our Lord,
         How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
         Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
        
 ² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
         You have ordained strength,
         Because of Your enemies,
         That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
        
 ³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
         The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
 ⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him,
         And the son of man that You visit him?
 ⁵ For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
         And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
        
 ⁶ You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
         You have put all things under his feet,
 ⁷ All sheep and oxen—
         Even the beasts of the field,
 ⁸ The birds of the air,
         And the fish of the sea
         That pass through the paths of the seas.
        
 ⁹ O LORD, our Lord,
         How excellent is Your name in all the earth!