I once worked with a veteran news reporter named Frank Hewlett, who was a Washington, D.C. correspondent for The Salt Lake Tribune when I met him. He also was an award-winning correspondent in World War II and longtime reporter in the nation’s capital. He told me something about politics and Washington that has always held true. He said, “In politics and in Washington, D.C., lightning can strike and everything can change. Never count on anything staying the same in politics.”
The same is true in life.
Here are a few examples:
- Lightning strikes and… my nephew is outside with his children. His 6-year old daughter says, “Daddy! We have to hurry and go inside. I can’t get struck by lightning tonight because I have dance try-outs tomorrow!.” (Okay so that one’s not really serious, but it’s funny and true!)
- Lightning strikes and… hits a huge tree in my sister’s back yard, breaking it open and exposing all the rough and raw wood of the tree.
She and her son examined it closely, inspecting the damage, and worrying about how much it would cost to get it removed. It’s their favorite shade tree and she credits it for keeping her un-airconditioned house reasonably cool. She has a daughter returning home from an 18-month mission in Uruguay and needs to help her ease back into real life with new clothes, a phone, car, etc. She couldn’t afford to pay for tree removal on top of everything else. She decided to pray about what to do. Then she went to work. She kept thinking she should go home and look at the tree problem again so that she could explain it to her insurance agent, the city, or the potential tree-cutter-downer. She took a friend with her and when they walked into her backyard, she stood flabbergasted and speechless about what she saw.
Her friend said, “I thought you said the tree was almost split in half.”
“I promise, it was!” she said, still staring at the tree.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she said, “I think the tree got healed.”
She moved closer and saw no signs of lightning damage anywhere — no exposed wood, nothing.
She called her son to tell him about it. He too couldn’t believe it. He came home to see for himself.
“It’s a miracle,” he said.
I can’t think of another word for it. Can you?
Lightning strikes and…a miracle occurs.
- Lighting strikes and…My adorable thirty-something niece who had nearly given up on meeting a decent man calls me at midnight screaming, “I’m engaged! I’m engaged! I’m getting married!” After dating men that could easily be featured on a unfathomably bad sitcom of “The Jerkiest Men on the Planet,” this is amazing news. While she was busily working to gut and remodel a kitchen, the cabinetmaker on the same job, walked up to her and said, “I need to take you on a date.” She was so surprised she didn’t know how to respond. After so many nightmarish dating experiences, she hedged and tried to think of an excuse not to go out with him. “You have to eat, right?” he said. He talked her into going to dinner. That was only a month ago. Now she is getting married in October. I guess lightning strikes and you meet a great guy; and then it strikes again, and you say yes to a marriage proposal because you know deep in your soul he’s the one you’ve been waiting for your entire life.
Frank was right. Lightning strikes and everything changes — not just in politics and in Washington, but in life.
Fill in the blank and tell me a stroke of lightning has changed something in your life or the life of someone you know.
Lightning strikes and ….
Laurie Snow Turner 
Every Memorial Day Mom always told me about our great grandfather and his son that were killed by lightning when working out in the fields. I like your stories better.