It's official.  The earthquake last week is the largest on record for Oklahoma.  It was a 5.8...and shook us all up.  I was sitting in my recliner reading the paper when it hit.  The noise was huge.  I thought there had been an explosion somewhere.

I had experienced an explosion once in Pryor when one of the plants in the Industrial Plant blew up.  It looked like a hydrogen bomb.  I just happened to be looking out the back window when it exploded.  There was complete silence and a huge red fireball.  The speed of light was so much faster than the speed of sound.  But when the sound came, it sounded like the earthquake last week.

So my first reaction was to think that the earthquake was an explosion.  The whole house shook.  The windows rattled--no breaks however.  And the chandeliers swayed back and forth.  That's when I knew it was an earthquake.  So I got up to go outside in case something collapsed.  But nothing was damaged at all.

I'm not used to noisy earthquakes.  The ones I experienced in California were quiet.  And they rolled. The ones here jerk and make loud noises.  Very different.  Oklahoma is now the earthquake center of the USA.  Thousands of them in the last few years.  But it's like tornados, you get used to it.  You step outside until the shaking stops--just in case something falls.  With tornados, you watch TV until the siren blows and then you go underground.  We Okies aren't wimps.  We also aren't stupid.

I used to be fearful.  But I'm not afraid anymore.  Just cautious.  I figure that if God wants me, He can have me anytime he wants me--whether it is an earthquake, tornado, or whatever.  My life is good.  I'm happy.  I just count my blessings and praise God for the life he has given me.

I have four children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.  And by some miracle, they all love me.  What more could I ask for?   "And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"  1 Corinthians 13:13.

But it is best to have all three.