Marti and I were talking in the kitchen last night as we often do in the evening when we were interrupted by a strange noise. It forced us to stop and stare at each other for a moment. What was that sound? It seemed to be coming from everywhere. Was it the rumble of an approaching earthquake? Were the water pipes rattling again? Had a gathering of dancing squirrels decided to throw a party on our roof?
Finally Marti said, “I think it might be raining!”
“No way,” I said as we rushed out the front door to be greeted by the sound of rain on the porch roof.
We stood there for a moment taking it all in. The smell of fresh rain on the dusty earth like wet weeds, the sound of clanging gutters emptying their contents on the ground, the feeling of energy from all those freed-up ions in the air. It felt like God just threw a soft wet blanket over us — like this was just for us. Most of you probably don’t get the significance of this because you are used to summer rains, but here in southern California, rain anytime between April and October is cause to stop everything and take note.
Of course we are currently in a serious drought which only heightens this experience, not to mention the extreme heat and resulting wildfires that are already raging and we aren’t even in the worst of the fire season yet.
Lakes and reservoirs are way down with brown bathtub rings around them; dams are useless. Boat slips are stranded halfway up the shore on dry land. Paved launching lanes stop long before there is any water to launch in. Surely this brief little dampening of the landscape won’t make even a dimple in this current drought, but it still was an amazing, totally unexpected gift from God, and a reminder of His grace, and the fact that He can do anything He wants, whenever He wants.
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