and the rain fell

Last night I was reading the account of Noah and "The Flood" from The Message Bible, and as I read the rain fell and the winds blew. I woke up, and the rain continued to pound the window panes, and splatter across the pavement, and the winds rattled the tree branches, and blew through the cracks in the windows.

I relish the sound of the rain, and to be able to sit inside a warm house and listen to the wind and the rain is one of my favourite things to do. I don't imagine though that I would enjoy it too much were I stuck outside in it, nor if God hadn't made the promise to never flood the whole earth as He did with "The Flood."

Could you imagine being one of the men or women who scoffed at Noah as he built the Ark, and then to be there as the skies opened up and rain poured forth. What would you have done? Obviously first seek shelter in some form, but as the rain kept falling and winds kept blowing what would go through your mind? And then the waters would rise, and rise, and water would pour forth into any form of shelter you had procurred. I wonder how many of those people realized their mistakes. How many of those regretted their hasty words to Noah and his family? There would have been no where to go for those people. Would parents have tried to save their children first? Or were they too far gone in their evil ways?

It is a slightly harrowing thought for me. My least desired option for death would be to drown. If I think about it too much, I don't even like the idea of slides at a water park - being stuck inside, and then the water, and the thought that I could get stuck, and the water would rise in the tunnel... Then the thought of scuba diving is slightly nerve racking, what if the oxygen tank stopped working, or I got stuck in a coral reef, and then I couldn't breathe and water would rush into my lungs, and I would slowly die... Yes, well, after all those morose thoughts, death by drowning is certainly not how I would want to go!

The rain is still falling, the wind still howling, and the puddles are growing but the world won't be covered by water from end to end again - God promised, and one thing I am sure of, is that God is faithful to His promises.

So I plan to sit here and continue to enjoy the sound of the wind and the rain, and when at some point I venture out into the stormy weather, I have the assurance of travelling to yet another safe, dry place!