It's still raining. It will rain until sometime tomorrow. Everywhere on Long Island, there are floods. People are needing to be rescued from the rising waters. And still the rain comes. Our block has a spot where it always floods when it rains hard. The state has put numerous drains in that area of the road, and it still floods in exactly the same place. You need to know where the high ground is under all that water in order to safely navigate the puddle. we have been living here for more than 30 years,and so we know how to get through without damaging the car.
The water level was down in our pool, and in need of being replenished. It is now threatening to overflow, and probably will by tomorrow.
It is very quiet outside. The birds are silent, the cicadas have ceased droning, there aren't any kids playing out there, and the guy with the race car and motorcycles has put them to rest for now. All I hear is the rain. Sometimes it is just a drizzle and hardly making a sound at all. Somtimes it is a steady soaking kind of rain, and I hear it rushing in the downspouts of the gutter system. Sometimes IT IS POURING! It sounds like drums on the roof and reminds me of the tropical storms we experienced when we were in Florida.
I have been chatting on Facebook with a friend, off and on since last night. We are talking about all the changes in our lives and where we want to be and where we have been and how we don't want to be where we have been. We are ready for a change...and we have been ready for quite some time. We don't like a lot of what we see in christianity these days, and we don't want to judge or criticize any group of people who meet together in God's name, but we need something else. We have a friend who tells us "Go where you find life!" And we are doing that. Some times it's within the four walls of a church. Sometimes it's in the park. Sometimes it's at the beach, and sometimes it's in a local coffee shop. But we still want more!
What is it that we want? We want Jesus. We want more of his presence in our lives. We want to hear him and see him and know him better and love him more.
I find the presence of the Lord is often like this rain. After a long dry spell, we all need a good dousing. Sometimes his presence is like a sprinkle, soft and refreshing. Sometime it is like a good soaking rain, long and deep and feeding the deepest roots. Sometimes his presence is like a downpour, saturating every bit of us as we stand in it. And I for one, can never get enough. I hope he rains until I am flooded with him. And I don't need rescuing. I need to swim and dive and stay in the flood until I am soaked through to the very core of my being. Maybe then I will have something of value to share with someone else. And I will; you can count on it. Rain on Lord! Reign on!
