“Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting promise to every living animal on earth.” Genesis 9:16Between Lucerne and Bern, Switzerland
Remember Noah - the guy who built the ark out of cypress wood and tar (not the steel one in 2012)? Noah, who was hailed as a loony because he was building a gargantuan ship so far from a sizeable body of water; Noah who at age 600 boarded the ship he built with his wife and family and waited for rain (Genesis 7:4).
Wait, rain? What the heck is rain?
Noah built the ship in faith – he had never seen, felt, experienced, or heard rain before. There was no precipitation before the flood. The land was watered by underground springs, the sky was always sunny and clear, the atmosphere pleasant and warm (kinda like San Diego). When God said he was going to send rain, Noah had no idea what he was talking about.
I can only imagine the soft pitter pat on the wooden planks that increased to a snap, slap, hammer, drumming, swelling cacophony of sound. How freaked out would you have been? No windows, but hearing the crowd screaming, yelling, pleading to you – and hearing former mockers drown as the large barge sways and rocks off its moors.
Roughly twelve months later Noah’s family exits the ark. They don’t know where they are, the sky looks different, the ground feels strange, and there really isn’t much vegetation that isn’t absolutely waterlogged or destroyed. They pull together some rocks, build an altar and worship God.
Then God and Noah’s family have a chat about the rules of the land and God gives them the rainbow as a symbol of his promise to never ever flood and destroy the earth again.
If I were them I would be 1. Happy to be out of the ark, 2. Happy to be over motion-sickness, 3. Happy to be able to roam a bit further than 450 feet at a time, and 4. Excited to see natural light again. But then the inevitable would happen – rain would come.
Can you imagine their response? Variations of panic, fear, and end of life flashes. Questions would be rampant - we don’t have another boat, we don’t have enough supplies, we aren’t prepared for this precipitous onslaught, are we getting wiped out this time? What did we do to tick God off? Why didn’t he kill us earlier with all the others – why now?
Then the rainbow would appear and they would recall the promise.
I am sure over time they became at ease with rain and even though it could be a bad storm they knew God wasn’t out to flood the earth and end all of life; that the promise God made stood strong and they were safe.
My question to you is what promises has God given you? What words, pictures, hope has he offered you? And, what are your circumstances saying about it? Do they agree with the promise, or are they dark and foreboding like oncoming rain clouds? Will you concur with circumstance or cling to what God said? Do circumstances dictate your actions - or do you focus on what God has for you? Are you looking at the rain or at the rainbow?
Updates:
Condo – Still for sale (Jason and Mike I appreciate you!).
Work – I start up again in a week with recruiting, prep for the upcoming training / travel cycle, catch up, as well as all the other miscellaneous stuff that happens in a consulting office!
Travel – Still in Switzerland with Rebecca and her Dad for a few days, then off to the Zurich Airport
Friends – Jodie and Jamie arrive for a weekend visit this Saturday!
Requests:
Condo – It needs to sell and I need the monthly mortgage payment to miraculously arrive until it does.
Work – For the people on the fence – that God’s voice would be clear to them about joining our training cycle this spring. For a prayer training product I am hoping to launch the end of January
Travel – safe passage home to San Francisco
Websites - If you would like to RSS my update vs. getting them by email visit my blog site http://www.denaandrews.blogstpot.com/. To find out more about rēp visit http://www.repurposing.biz/ for information.
Wait, rain? What the heck is rain?
Noah built the ship in faith – he had never seen, felt, experienced, or heard rain before. There was no precipitation before the flood. The land was watered by underground springs, the sky was always sunny and clear, the atmosphere pleasant and warm (kinda like San Diego). When God said he was going to send rain, Noah had no idea what he was talking about.
I can only imagine the soft pitter pat on the wooden planks that increased to a snap, slap, hammer, drumming, swelling cacophony of sound. How freaked out would you have been? No windows, but hearing the crowd screaming, yelling, pleading to you – and hearing former mockers drown as the large barge sways and rocks off its moors.
Roughly twelve months later Noah’s family exits the ark. They don’t know where they are, the sky looks different, the ground feels strange, and there really isn’t much vegetation that isn’t absolutely waterlogged or destroyed. They pull together some rocks, build an altar and worship God.
Then God and Noah’s family have a chat about the rules of the land and God gives them the rainbow as a symbol of his promise to never ever flood and destroy the earth again.
If I were them I would be 1. Happy to be out of the ark, 2. Happy to be over motion-sickness, 3. Happy to be able to roam a bit further than 450 feet at a time, and 4. Excited to see natural light again. But then the inevitable would happen – rain would come.
Can you imagine their response? Variations of panic, fear, and end of life flashes. Questions would be rampant - we don’t have another boat, we don’t have enough supplies, we aren’t prepared for this precipitous onslaught, are we getting wiped out this time? What did we do to tick God off? Why didn’t he kill us earlier with all the others – why now?
Then the rainbow would appear and they would recall the promise.
I am sure over time they became at ease with rain and even though it could be a bad storm they knew God wasn’t out to flood the earth and end all of life; that the promise God made stood strong and they were safe.
My question to you is what promises has God given you? What words, pictures, hope has he offered you? And, what are your circumstances saying about it? Do they agree with the promise, or are they dark and foreboding like oncoming rain clouds? Will you concur with circumstance or cling to what God said? Do circumstances dictate your actions - or do you focus on what God has for you? Are you looking at the rain or at the rainbow?
Updates:
Condo – Still for sale (Jason and Mike I appreciate you!).
Work – I start up again in a week with recruiting, prep for the upcoming training / travel cycle, catch up, as well as all the other miscellaneous stuff that happens in a consulting office!
Travel – Still in Switzerland with Rebecca and her Dad for a few days, then off to the Zurich Airport
Friends – Jodie and Jamie arrive for a weekend visit this Saturday!
Requests:
Condo – It needs to sell and I need the monthly mortgage payment to miraculously arrive until it does.
Work – For the people on the fence – that God’s voice would be clear to them about joining our training cycle this spring. For a prayer training product I am hoping to launch the end of January
Travel – safe passage home to San Francisco
Websites - If you would like to RSS my update vs. getting them by email visit my blog site http://www.denaandrews.blogstpot.com/. To find out more about rēp visit http://www.repurposing.biz/ for information.
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