With the family out-of-town for the week, I have used this time wisely to get my workouts in. I’ve been going hard because once school starts and soccer starts my time, once again will be limited. Normally my workouts consist of weights, but now since I have the time I’m doing weights, abs, and I throw in a 3 mile run at the end. My first 2 days of runs were awesome, and then I woke up yesterday and could barely walk. Looks like it caught up to me. So I took the day off. Today was a run day again, but as I started, I was dreading it, but I knew I had to get it in.
Now this is where I may have lost my mind, but I am in such a wonderfully spiritual place right now I can’t help it. The run wasn’t bad, but as I made the turn for the last mile it started getting tough. One of my favorite songs from Elevation Worship came on, and I started singing as loud as I could as I ran down the road…….lucky for me I have some great noise cancelling headphones. As I hit the quarter-mile mark and I just wanted to quit, in a mostly sunny sky it started raining on me. I knew at that moment God was there cheering me on.
I have grown to love the rain. You see, to me, rain symbolizes God’s blessing on my life….the assurance that I am on my path and moving in the direction God wants me to be moving. Today isn’t the first day it rained on me when I felt like I needed that push.
I’ll go back to just a week ago. My wife and I were at our conference for our business, and we had just had a complete emotional breakdown through the last speaker of the day. The story behind that is quite long, so I will skip that for now, but just know…God had been lining that speaker up, for that exact moment, for both of us.
The last few sermons we had been listening to before we left for Dallas were about Elijah and his life. “Now Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy rain shower. So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. So he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go back, seven times. It came about on the seventh time, that he said Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming from the sea. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you. In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went o Jezreel (1 Kings 18:41-45.)”
That day, after we left the conference we were standing in the parking lot of my brother-in-laws hotel. My wife asked me, still emotional, “Are we gonna do this or what?” As she asked, out of a cloudless sky it began to rain.
God blesses us all in so many ways. So nowadays, when the rains come, it strengthens me. The rain gives me hope. The rain gives me comfort that God is all around us. It lets me know that in my toughest times, and when I need just a little sign of assurance, that He is there.
As it says in Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:8-11.)”
God sends the “rain” for a reason. Whether it is to guide you down your path, comfort you in a time of need, or just to show you He is there. These days I run towards the storms. The storms are where we grow the most. The storms are where we find our way. The storms are where we grow in our faith the most. I don’t even carry an umbrella anymore. I pray for God to rain down on me.
I pray that you come to love the rain…..or whatever else God uses to show you He is there and you are on your path. I pray you run for the storms. Don’t be afraid. God is there…..watching over you, teaching you, building you up, protecting you…..He is always there….even in the darkest of storms. I pray you learn to not need an umbrella. Soak it all in.
Tetelestai 