Sunday Sermon - Bring the Rain

The weather has been all of the place lately. Peering from my window, it looked like it was a warm summer day without a cloud in the sky; only I stepped out into the harsh bitter cold. Boy was I deceived.

Our life is like the forecast. Sunny, Partly-Cloudy, Cloudy, Rainy or Thunderstorms. And like the weather, we rarely have a whole year of Sunny, warm days without a cloud in the sky. But we ARE given some days like that, right? Everything is going perfect! We got our run in, our house is order, the kids are happy, our spouse is satisfied... you know those kind of days... the days that are just perfect sunbathing days.

Those Partly-Cloudy days aren't bad either. We still see the sun but every now and again, a cloud passes by and reminds us that life is not perfect. We will have small challenges, like the dishwasher breaking or our car not starting or missing the group run and having to go solo; but those things we can handle. We actually tend to handle it without it even phasing us. Partly-cloudy days tend to be forecasted the most.

Cloudy days, well, those can bring us down. We cannot see the sun, but we deal. We wear our raincoat in case it rains. We missed our morning run because we were up all night with a sick child, or we have a slight twinge in our quad from the workout the day before. We cope. We manage. We survive.

And sometimes it Rains. The rain can be light and peacefully or so hard that it is practically blinding. Our wipers just cannot clear our vision enough to get through. But we do. We stay in or take it slowly, watching our steps, avoiding the puddles. We run with a slight pain or the twinge seems to be something more, but we go on. We trust our instincts. We promise ourselves we will stop if it gets worst.

But when the Thunderstorms come, we are afraid. We start to doubt. We second guess. We aren't confident that we will get through it. The pain is so bad, we stop. The lightening comes at the doctor's visit as the bad news is delivered: a stress-fracture, a tear or worse... a fracture. We think we will never run again. We mope around. We stress eat. We throw in the towel. Thankfully, we DON'T have thunderstorms everyday, actually they are the least forecasted... but in the midst of the storm, we cannot see that.

Inside our comfort zones everything can be cozy and safe. I know I like living in my comfort zone, but God asks us to move out of this comfort zone. He challenges us with the clouds, the rain, and the thunderstorms. He wants us to look towards the Son who is always shining. He NEVER leaves us. He wants us to praise Him in the storm which will probably take me a lifetime to master, but I am not giving up. I will keep trying to do exactly that - thank Him for the challenge.

And so, I say, "Bring the Rain" because I have the biggest umbrella in the world. He protects me, He lifts me, and He promises He will always be there with me.