SUMMER STORMS!
One morning in August, Jim and I took our usual walk around the neighborhood as we try to do on the two odd days in the week. It was wonderfully cool but I was prepared for the sunshine with my trusty umbrella. We were bothered by some mosquito's but on the whole it was nice. Not quite half way through our walk we felt a few rain drops and noticed some menacing dark clouds in the distance. Pretty soon the drops were coming somewhat regular and before we knew it, it was raining. We picked up our speed, which for us is unusual in itself. My umbrella is one I purchased at Disneyland. You know the kind; with frills around the edge and you can have designs and/or names put on them. This was a pretty little white one and was used for sunshine, wind but never rain. I have others for that!

The rain came harder and harder and soon there were small pellets of sleet. You know what sleet is; it is rain freezing as it falls and most time it is white because a little bit of snow is mixed in with it. Many refer to it as hail but hail is much larger and can hurt when it hits you! The sounds of thunder began rolling. The sounds of falling rain began to increased and mix with the sounds of rushing water as we approached the manholes which gave access to the drain pipes under ground. As we passed the manholes the loud sound would diminish and then it would be just the falling rain and sleet.

Jim was pretty drenched by this time and my umbrella was not leaking but the water was running off of it and down my back so that I was getting pretty drenched as well. The most interesting thing about this walk in the rain was that under normal circumstances I would have been beside myself. But this was Thursday; I had no plans today and tomorrow morning I get my hair done. I enjoyed our unplanned walk in the rain! I enjoyed the smell of rain on the cement! Even though I enjoyed this experience, I don't want to do it again anytime soon!

I remember Joyce, my sister and I walking home from school in the middle of the road carrying our shoes and splashing in the rain water and not caring that we were wet. I remember not worrying about our hair, or our clothes. Rain always felt good! Don't know when that changed but it did, until this morning.

As we jumped over the rain filled curbs to cross the street towards home, I wondered about the days of Noah. I wondered how the rain must have fallen. Perhaps hard and fast or perhaps just a steady drenching; including enough thunder to cause people outside, to run for shelter. "In the six hundreth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." Genesis 7:11-12

As for in the days of Joyce and me splashing our way home, it was before storm drains, so the water had no place to go. In the days of Noah there were no storm drains and the continual rising of the water covered the whole earth. "And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." Genesis 7:18-20 15 cubits upward was about 22.5 feet which was higher than the tallest mountain.

Personally I like watching the rain from inside. I use to think the best thing on a rainy day was reading a good book and eating an apple. I have always like the rain but I have never like being out in it. That is, until that morning in August.

Thank you God for giving me this pleasure in my old age and letting me share it with Jim. Thank you God for washing away the heat of the day on that August morning and giving our community a cool refreshing drink. Thank you for this refreshment to our souls and the lifting of our spirits as the end of summer approaches. Amen! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 8/6/09