Rain

I spend quite a bit of time these days sitting on the front porch of the house. The weather here has been nice, but I enjoy the front porch because I can sit out there and listen to the creek and breath the air even when it rains.

I love the rain. I'm not sure why. It just gives me peace, and an odd pang of joy. I used to get in trouble as a child for sneaking outside and playing in it, actually got in trouble once for doing it at work, too. Maybe it just has something to do with the oddity of it, now that I am back in the mountains of Tennessee.

Many times you can see it coming, reminding me of my too few days in Africa, and there are even times when it rains in the front yard and not the back. I like how God sometimes draws that line you can see with it--here, but not there.

According to Biblical verse, the first time it ever rained was when Noah had the ark completed. I guess having water fall out of the sky for the very first time would certainly drive you to start pounding on the door screaming "Sorry I made fun of ya, dude, can I come in now?", but that's another story.

When I worked at Sandy Cove, which is right on the Chesapeake Bay, I would always call my staff together before each meal shift and have a little "pep talk". My little monsters, as I called them, would always roll their eyes when it rained because they knew that some variation of the "dreaded" Noah story was coming.

I guess I just see the rain as a promise. If you believe in Biblical promises, it means that evil has been washed away, and forever after the rain will give nourishment.

If you don't or don't care, rain simply means life. Without it we'd have no rivers, no oceans, nothing to grow crops or to drink.

To me, it simply stands for hope. Regardless of the day, the time or the mood, rain gives me hope that there is power in the simple, power in the things we take for granted and power that is above and beyond control.

And these days we can use a little more hope.