I have been missing in action again...several days since I have been able to sit down to write..(.adding new disciplines into your life takes time). I have been learning to dance in the rain. Many powerful, destructive storms have already pushed through my life. Wild hurricanes of immense power with winds that bend and break, stripping every living thing bare...and downpours of cold pounding relentless rain, with flashes of lightening and peals of thunder. Storms come. Storms go. That's what storms do...they are the convergence of opposing entities,wrestling, straining, battling each other, each seeking dominance. Eventually, the intensity weakens, then fades. The once invisible sun breaks from behind retreating clouds of darkness, and when you look at the sky from just the right angle, rainbows can be seen stretching from one end of the earth to the other. No matter how fierce the storm may be, in it's midst, we can hold on to the truth that it will pass.

In Genesis it says that the earth was watered from springs, from under the ground. As a matter of fact that is why people of Noah's day thought him so ridiculous for building an ark...no one had ever seen rain before. We were never meant to endure the rain.

Today when rain comes we can feel the barometric pressure as the storm approaches...some of us older folks have arthritis flare ups, our bodies, our minds, are effected by the rain. Many people have mood changes and depression and fatigue as a result of the impending rain. The problem with the storm is that it kind of sneaks up on us. It eclipses our lives and drives down on us...illness, financial ruin, divorce, death of a loved one....storms start moving in with clouds that thicken and fill with torrents of downfalls to come...they come swiftly and darken our spirits....they roll through our days with relentless domineering power and strip our lives as hurricane winds. It is a guarantee that storms will come. We know that they are coming, yet each time it feels like a surprise, each time we are not prepared and run covering our heads and splashing through the growing puddles toward some kind of shelter.

Good news is that Christ can calm the storms. He is the master of the winds and the waves in our lives. He is the peace, the stronghold, the safe haven, the refuge for our souls...

"He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves." - Psalm 107:29 and "When Jesus woke up he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm." - Luke 8:24

Once you know the one who can calm the chaos, who can still the storm, it is easy to sing and dance in the rain. Today it is raining outside, and in places in my life, the storms are raging, but I choose to stand under the umbrella of my great and mighty God who promises to calm the storm.