Rain

When Isaac and I were married almost 17 years ago the song we chose for our wedding was

 When The Rain Comes by Third Day. 

Click to listen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC6hmKXclP0

Looking back it was a kind of strange choice for a wedding.

Here we were at the very start of our lives together. 

What most people would call the happiest day of your life and we are singing about the inevitable storm,

pain and chaos that would be in our lives. But for us (especially me) who has always struggled to

not worry about the future it was a perfect choice.

The words promise that the rain will be there but so will Love. 

Today on what feels like the 100,000 day of quarantine it is a rainy day.

After several weeks of sunny beautiful weather it was a bit of a shock to the system.

My smallest and I had gone to run a quick errand which included printing him pictures of Pokemon.

Now you need to know that his love of Pokemon runs deep, like an Oregonian loves coffee or fish

needs water. As we exited the car he carefully tucks his pictures under his arm.

He takes a runner's stance, left knee bent on the balls of his feet, arms primed to pump.

He leans forward and sprints forward through the rain onto the porch.

The Spirit prompts my memory and my wonderings.

Does running through the rain protect your valuables?

Will it keep safe the things we hold most dear?

As I walked through the rain to my porch the words rumble around in my head:

 “ When the rain comes it seems that everyone has

gone away

When the night falls you wonder if you shouldn't

find someplace

To run and hide

Escape the pain

But hiding's such lonely thing to do

When the rain comes you blame it on the things that

you have done”

Maybe you feel like you are trying, like my little, to sprint through this rain storm of Covid-19,

trying to protect all the things you hold dear. Maybe you are hiding.

Maybe you are looking for someone or something to blame. 

Are you counting the days until the rain stops? No matter what this storm and your response looks

like, the next part of the song encompasses a promise that we can all embrace. 

The words of the song echo Jesus' promise to us in John 16:33 And everything I’ve taught you is so

that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me.

For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous,

for I have conquered the world!” 

“So Rest awhile

It'll be alright

No one loves you like I do

When the rain comes

I will hold you!”

Today, remember God is with you. He loves you and is holding you.