Friday, June 17, 2005

RAIN IN JUNE?

It rained yesterday and a little today. The newspaper said the average temperature for this time of the year is 90. Today it was 66. Go figure.

My plants are confused. My lawn is saturated. My rose petals are pummeled. All is askew.

I guess I could ask, "Are we being punished?" After all, Amador County is no haven from sin and its folly. The last year we have been debating about whether or not to have another casino in the neighborhood. We have our "fair share" of drugs and its attendent evils. Our local newspaper and its editors recently lamblasted a man who came into town with a vehicle boarded with an advertisement stating what the Bible says about homosexuality. Just a few miles away in Lodi authorities uncovered a terrorist link. We are up in the mountains, tucked away from civilization, but sin has found us.

None of us equate the unseasonal weather with God's judgment. We just know some years it rains more than others.

When we encounter difficulties in life--when we are feeling innundated by hardship, confused, saturated and pummeled--we may be tempted to ask, "Is God punishing me?"

No, even though the proliferation of trouble may seem unseasonable (when is trouble something we plan for on the calendar?), we can know there are just times in our lives that are more difficult than others. Because we are all sinners, it might be easy to see a "cause and effect" relationship between our failure and the storms we are weathering.

The best thing to do when it is raining is to recognize that things are growing.

May it be true of our lives in the midst of trouble and difficulties.


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