Rainshowers
15/04/16 05:26
Finally the rain came last night. There were a few booms of thunder, mostly in the distance and we could hear the rain falling outside. What a delicious sound and feeling to go to sleep with the water running in the downspouts and splashing on the lawn outside. The weather forecasters have told us that we are in for a dry year and in the forest dry years mean fires. We’ve already had one significant fire this year and know that likely there are more to come. But last night we were able to go to sleep with the sound and smell of the rain. It was a luxury worth relishing.
According to the forecast, we’re in for several wet days if the cold front succeeds in stalling over the hills and expected. We might even see a few snowflakes over the weekend, though the temperatures will probably not sink low enough for much accumulation. By Monday and Tuesday, the forecast shows a 75% chance of rain with combined accumulations from this system in excess of one inch.
There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
The hymn by Daniel Whittle plays in my mind often when I hear the sound of rain. I’ve always thought of rain as a blessing.
I’ve never lived in rainy country. In fact, except for the four years that we lived in Chicago, where average annual precipitation is 37.1 inches per year, Rapid City, with 18.32 inches per year is the wettest place I’ve ever called home.
Our son and his family live in Olympia, Washington, where they see 57 inches a year. Our sister church is in San, Jose, Costa Rica that has a six-month rainy season with more than 10 inches per month. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the wettest place on earth is a cluster of hamlets known as Mawsynram in India, where annual rainfall is 467.35 inches. That’s a lot of water. To put that into perspective, it would take us more than 25 years to see as much rain as they experience each year.
My hunch is that people who live in places like that don’t have the same appreciation for a little rain shower as we do.
In ancient times, religious leaders were called upon to explain why some places received adequate rains and other places experienced drought. Our faith, Christianity, and its antecedent faith, Judaism, grew up in rather dry climates. At 23.2 inches per year, Jerusalem is slightly more moist than the hills, but comparable in terms of its climatic conditions. Our forebears knew how to appreciate the blessings of rain and understood that a lack of rain could quickly become problematic. In the Bible, periods of drought are often described as periods of famine and some of the major events in the story of our people arise from migrations forced by famine. It was a famine that resulted in the children of Israel ending up as immigrants in Egypt where they were eventually enslaved. God’s chosen people were not exempt from the forces of nature and the power of the climate.
It is in the face of the amazing power of nature that we understand a bit of our vulnerability. There are forces in the universe that we cannot control that have a deep impact on our lives. Knowing that, climate change is a threatening part of our current situation and the topic of more than a little bit of conversation. It surprises me that there has been a connection between the denial of climate change and certain parts of evangelical Christianity. Perhaps it is a result of a suspicion of scientific method that arises from the debates over the theory of evolution. Those debates were fueled with what look, from my point of view, from some serious errors in biblical interpretation. That, however, is the topic of another (and probably much longer) blog.
For me, lying in my bed listening to the rain last night, it was enough to know that each drop represented a blessing to the grass growing in my lawn and the flowers springing up in the beds around the house. In our porous soil, rain both runs off and down the hill and penetrates to the roots of the trees. It is almost as if you can sense the change in the pine trees if you walk in the forest during or after a rain shower. The water is lifeblood for the forest and each drop produces a surge of energy and growth.
I am not immune from paying attention to the weather. I check the forecast every day as a part of my routine of starting the day and refer to updated forecasts throughout the day. I’m not a farmer and much of my life goes on without disruption when weather changes. Except in the case of a big blizzard, most of my activities are unchanged when it rains. But I might take a bit deeper breath when I step outside and my smile might be a bit broader when I greet my friends. I do like the rain.
A few years ago I took the opportunity of having family in Olympia, Washington as an excuse to purchase a good rain jacket. It isn’t real foul weather gear by any stretch, but it is waterproof enough to make it comfortable to go for a walk in the rain. I’ve never lived in a rainy place enough to have mastered the use of an umbrella. Usually when it really rains, I’m inside and the umbrella is in my car, requiring me to get wet on the way to getting the umbrella. But the jacket is just right for my lifestyle. I’m hoping that I get the opportunity to wear it in the next few days.
According to the forecast, we’re in for several wet days if the cold front succeeds in stalling over the hills and expected. We might even see a few snowflakes over the weekend, though the temperatures will probably not sink low enough for much accumulation. By Monday and Tuesday, the forecast shows a 75% chance of rain with combined accumulations from this system in excess of one inch.
There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
The hymn by Daniel Whittle plays in my mind often when I hear the sound of rain. I’ve always thought of rain as a blessing.
I’ve never lived in rainy country. In fact, except for the four years that we lived in Chicago, where average annual precipitation is 37.1 inches per year, Rapid City, with 18.32 inches per year is the wettest place I’ve ever called home.
Our son and his family live in Olympia, Washington, where they see 57 inches a year. Our sister church is in San, Jose, Costa Rica that has a six-month rainy season with more than 10 inches per month. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the wettest place on earth is a cluster of hamlets known as Mawsynram in India, where annual rainfall is 467.35 inches. That’s a lot of water. To put that into perspective, it would take us more than 25 years to see as much rain as they experience each year.
My hunch is that people who live in places like that don’t have the same appreciation for a little rain shower as we do.
In ancient times, religious leaders were called upon to explain why some places received adequate rains and other places experienced drought. Our faith, Christianity, and its antecedent faith, Judaism, grew up in rather dry climates. At 23.2 inches per year, Jerusalem is slightly more moist than the hills, but comparable in terms of its climatic conditions. Our forebears knew how to appreciate the blessings of rain and understood that a lack of rain could quickly become problematic. In the Bible, periods of drought are often described as periods of famine and some of the major events in the story of our people arise from migrations forced by famine. It was a famine that resulted in the children of Israel ending up as immigrants in Egypt where they were eventually enslaved. God’s chosen people were not exempt from the forces of nature and the power of the climate.
It is in the face of the amazing power of nature that we understand a bit of our vulnerability. There are forces in the universe that we cannot control that have a deep impact on our lives. Knowing that, climate change is a threatening part of our current situation and the topic of more than a little bit of conversation. It surprises me that there has been a connection between the denial of climate change and certain parts of evangelical Christianity. Perhaps it is a result of a suspicion of scientific method that arises from the debates over the theory of evolution. Those debates were fueled with what look, from my point of view, from some serious errors in biblical interpretation. That, however, is the topic of another (and probably much longer) blog.
For me, lying in my bed listening to the rain last night, it was enough to know that each drop represented a blessing to the grass growing in my lawn and the flowers springing up in the beds around the house. In our porous soil, rain both runs off and down the hill and penetrates to the roots of the trees. It is almost as if you can sense the change in the pine trees if you walk in the forest during or after a rain shower. The water is lifeblood for the forest and each drop produces a surge of energy and growth.
I am not immune from paying attention to the weather. I check the forecast every day as a part of my routine of starting the day and refer to updated forecasts throughout the day. I’m not a farmer and much of my life goes on without disruption when weather changes. Except in the case of a big blizzard, most of my activities are unchanged when it rains. But I might take a bit deeper breath when I step outside and my smile might be a bit broader when I greet my friends. I do like the rain.
A few years ago I took the opportunity of having family in Olympia, Washington as an excuse to purchase a good rain jacket. It isn’t real foul weather gear by any stretch, but it is waterproof enough to make it comfortable to go for a walk in the rain. I’ve never lived in a rainy place enough to have mastered the use of an umbrella. Usually when it really rains, I’m inside and the umbrella is in my car, requiring me to get wet on the way to getting the umbrella. But the jacket is just right for my lifestyle. I’m hoping that I get the opportunity to wear it in the next few days.