Let it rain!

This week reminded me that Southern California is not built for rain. It’s been a stormy week. Most places in the country would be anticipating this kind of weather at the beginning of February; but not here. You’d think we were buried in 5 feet of snow the way the meteorologists go on… “STORMWATCH 2009” (it even has it’s own graphic) is the lead story on every local station, and fills much of the evening news. Traffic reports are over-full of weather-related problems. The question of the day is “when is it finally going to let up?” (after a steady 4 days of rain).

As a kid who grew up in California, I never knew how odd this all was until after I had lived in the Pacific Northwest for 7 years. Now that place is built to expect rain. The amount of precipitation that shuts down freeways, building projects, sporting events, and even schools here wouldn’t even get a mention in the Northwest. What sends people into a panic, scurrying for shelter in this city wouldn’t even phase most of those hearty souls in Portland or Seattle.

Here our water doesn’t often come from the sky; it always comes from a faucet. The miracle of irrigation transforms this arid desert called Southern California into a lush garden. Well, maybe lush is a bit too strong an adjective, but we do have over 23 million people living in a climate that, without human engineering, couldn’t support close to half that many.

But, boy, do we have problems when it rains hard. The ground just isn’t ready for it. Aside from all the California jokes, the reality is that the roads are too slick after a first rain and driving is quite dangerous. The ground that is hard won’t let the water saturate it and it runs off, creating hazardous flooding conditions. The burned out areas that have gone through fires are especially prone to treacherous mudslides. Rain can be bad news, even when we are in desperate need of it in the middle of a drought (like now).

And this all gets me thinking about my life: Am I regularly refreshed by the downpour of the Holy Spirit? Does a constant flow keep my heart soft and ready for the next deluge? Or, does my life become hard and dry and incapable of receiving the blessing that God wants to shower on me? A person who expects the rain is blessed when they get it—one who is not prepared for that blessing might consider it a curse. Have the places where there have been fires in my life been tended to?

More Questions: Do I irrigate my soul, living on rationed water that fell a month or a year ago? Do I dread fresh water because of how it will mess me up even though I need it so badly, or am I preparing myself to take it in? Do people know they can come to me when they are thirsty, and am I able to offer them fresh water?

As I consider all this, a some scriptures come to mind:

“Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain.” (Isaiah 35:7)

“For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven…” (Deuteronomy 11:10-11)

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38).

Let it rain; Lord I’m waiting for Your rain to fall…