Hey Rain

Rain, rain, rain, we wish you'd go away.

We haven't seen the sun shine on us for too many days!

We want to coast on the playground slide without soaking through our pants.

We want to get out in our yard and sing and play and dance.

We want to take a walk that doesn't require boots and a raincoat.

We want to live in a house, not a "castle" with a moat.

Still. . .

If all this rain causes our living room to be turned into a four-star restaurant run by the youngest chefs ever. . .

If we end up reading every book we own twice, acting out our favorite characters. . .

If we make hot chocolate with extra marshmallows and use the other marshmallows to make little men with pretzel sticks. . .

If we camp out on our bedroom floors and make cozy tents between the beds. . .

I guess all this rain isn't so bad after all.

The Rain Comes

It has been so dark and rainy lately here in Oregon:

But you don't have to live in Oregon for it to be cold and rainy in December.

It could be that something has happened that has made life miserably cold and rainy for you.

It's that steady, constant, bone-chilling rain that continues to attack your soul.

When it comes, it's hard to avoid it.

Searching for sunshine or even any ray of hope seems like too much effort.

Friends try to help, but when they leave, the rain is still there.

But you don't have to look far or hard to find the light. Here in chilly wet Oregon, I simply step out on my porch and see this:

Small lights they may be, but still their warm glow takes over the whole photograph.

I am thinking of my best friend today. The dismal cold rain has hit her hard, almost as hard as the driver that hit her mom on Saturday. The rain pours as my friend sits at her mom's bedside, watching an assortment of machines sustain her life. It looks so very dark, and the options presented by the doctors are heart-breaking.

And yet there is light. The "Light of the World" is standing by her side. Our prayers have put Him there, have wrapped His loving arms around her.

Won't you join me in making that light brighter and that faint hope stronger? Please take a moment and lift up Rachel and her family in your prayers today.

"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." James 5:15