Rain

It is still snowing. But "Rain" was the title of my bible study tonight.

For a few seconds think of one moment you would never want to forget. A moment that might change everything...Like seeing your child be born...or getting married...or hitting the hole in one...or laying in the middle of a field with the warmth of the sun on your face...The first day of school.
Got it? Do you have your moment? OK.

Now it rains. It always seems to rain.
Its like dreaming the greatest dream and getting woke up. You try to go back to sleep and dream it again, but it doesn't work.
Rain. Pounding Rain. Drenched hair rain. Walking like you wet yourself rain.

That's life...isn't it? And it's the rain in our lives that makes us ask questions like. Why God? I thought you loved me. I can't believe in a God who would allow such things to happen.

Tonight's Bible Study we watched a video about a father taking his 1 year old son for a walk around a lake. It started off great. It was "the moment". Then it began to rain. It began to pour. The child began to scream his head off. The child's reality was only the storm. And yet the Father was still there. He was there holding the child whispering in his ear.
"I love you...We will get through this...We are almost there...I love you."

As Christians we often expect to receive blessings like TV preachers talk about. "You will be blessed with earthy wealth as long as you follow the words of scripture."
The reality however, is not blessings that the world considers, but the reality is rain.
The blessing of rain...of storms...of life shattering events...The Cross.
Jesus the cross bearer says,
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23) and again he stresses "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27).

The Christian Life has to do with rain. It has to do with suffering, defeat and weakness - not simply the experience of “glory” as we might like.
Therefore we cling to the Cross - Trusting Christ to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. This is saving Faith.
In ordinary life we still have our problems…yet our crosses are connected to His cross and our resurrections are connected to His Resurrection.

We live life clinging to our loving Father who sent His Son Jesus to endure the storm of sin death and the devil. These are rain showers we do not have to endure for they have been defeated. And the day will come that all rain will cease and we will have "the moment". "The moment" of remembering the rain storm and how our Creator God grasped us close to Him during the storm whispered in our ear.
"I love you...We will get through this...We are almost there...I love you."