Do you have favorite things? These are things you choose each day…things you return to. We all have favorite things. One of my favorite things is actually in a large group. There is one way to describe the group: words. Words are among my favorite things.

There is a favorite word of mine. Found in all the millions of words, one word stands above the others.

AWESOME

Perhaps you hear the word awesome when it is used to mean great or good. It can be used that way. In my opinion it is far from the best way to use awesome. Awesome…separated and reversed we get close to the truth of this English word: some awe.

Since words are among my favorite things. Take a few moments of time…think about some and awe with me. First “some.” Used as an adjective, we get to the meaning of some in the word awesome. As an adjective, some means certain, and specific. Now put those, one at a time, on awesome. We get “awecertain” and “awespecific.” Did I coin two new words? Probably not, what does happen is new understanding of awesome: it is awe-specific awe; certain awe.

Now for the word awe. Lists of words have power. Here is a power filled list-all synonyms for awe. These are the nouns for awe/wonder, admiration, respect, amazement, reverence, and worship. Then there are the nouns for awe/fear: terror, dread, fright, trepidation, and fearfulness. In awe there is both wonder (amazement) and fear.

There is for me only one use for the word awesome, it is to describe God.

Only God is awesome, at the same time amazing and to be feared.

Want to SEE the awesomeness of God? I thought so…we get to use another of my favorite words- cumulonimbus. Clouds! Not ordinary, extraordinary clouds which form in warm weather. Cumulonimbus clouds are big. Big is actually inadequate, let’s use immense and vast. Let’s add huge, enormous and whopping. Cumulonimbus clouds can build on rising air to heights of 30,000 to 40,000 feet above the earth. That’s over 6 miles. Extra-large cumulonimbus clouds can reach to 12 miles-vertical! We are just getting started.

Awesome is in cumulonimbus clouds. God puts it there. Can any human create a cloud like this? Does such power organize by itself? It would be dangerous to be inside a cumulonimbus cloud. Lightning is found in them. Estimates indicate that about 100 bolts of lightning strike the earth-every second. At 600 bolts per minute and 3600 every hour there is an astonishing amount of electricity striking the earth. Put in more “home-style” terms there is enough electricity in 1 bolt of lightning power about 56 average homes for a day. But expressed in these terms it seems like there is much more than enough for 56 homes: estimates suggest that 1 Billion volts are contained in a large bolt. Remember, some lightning bolts originate 6 miles in the air!

A cumulonimbus cloud contains a LOT of water. A single cumulonimbus cloud has as much energy as 10 atom bombs would have. It may contain up to half a million tons of water. (15 KM=6miles) It is difficult to estimate the content of water in a cloud. Evaporation and condensation change it constantly. Another way to understand how much water is within a cumulonimbus cloud is the result-rain falling on earth. One inch of rain falling over 1 square mile of earth is the equivalent of more than 17 million gallons of water. It staggers the imagination to think of how much weight that is…one-gallon weighs 8 pounds.

One more thing: wind. Cumulonimbus clouds generate a significant amount of wind. Forming the tops of cumulonimbus clouds takes powerful updraft winds. In forming cumulonimbus these winds can approach speeds of 60 miles per hour. Tornados, also formed in strong cumulonimbus clouds may exceed wind speeds over 100mph.

Have you come to an understanding of the power of a cumulonimbus cloud? Actually, neither of us has…while we see them, unless you have experienced the power of a tornado, we are largely uniformed about the true power in a large cumulonimbus cloud.

You’ve been waiting to see awesome. But have you looked at the cloud photos? Here are the facts to go with the cumulonimbus photos you see:

Date: 6-1-20     Time: 6:45 PM     Sky quadrant location: NE     Actual air temperature at time of photos: 93F     Relative Humidity (at camera location): 33%     Dew Point: 61F     Barometric Pressure: 29.67     Wind: West @12mph     Estimated distance to the cloud in the photos: 49-55 miles.

Awesome is a wonderful word. It should be reserved for God. Only God is truly awesome.

In Psalm 145 we read the words of King David, former shepherd boy, it is certain he saw cumulonimbus clouds during his life. King David also witnessed the awesome works of God in his life. He wrote these words of praise to AWESOME God:

One generation commends your works to another they tell of your mighty acts.

They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds

Psalm 145:4-6

Awesome is one of my favorite words. When I think of awesome, God is first.