Cambodia, April 2017
I was standing on a rooftop in Cambodia waiting for worship and the imminent storm to start. I had been watching it roll in all afternoon and I could smell the rain in the air. I could see the lightning flashing on the horizon and hear Katie tuning her guitar up on stage.
As soon as we started worship the heavens opened and the rain fell. I got to worship standing in the downpour, singing about the beauty of our God while watching the lightning light up the sky. There are so many metaphors one can draw from storms, rain, thunder, etc in relation to our heavenly father.
Rain, like God’s grace, is cleansing and life giving. It washes us clean of all our impurities and makes things new. You can see the rain from one of two perspectives. It can either put a damper on your life, and hinder the plans you had. You can view it as a season that ruins the life you had planned and only leaves puddles. Or you can view it as the means through which you are cleansed and refreshed. It comes to give life through the dousing of everything around you. But you have to allow it to SOAK you.
Lighting, like the truth of the gospel, illuminates who we are (as the clouds). It reveals curves and edges only visible when backlit by the truth of God’s word. Some shapes of our character are unmistakable even in the dark, but it takes illumination by the Holy Spirit to be able to see the parts of us that are not so readily visible in the midst of the storm.
Worshiping in the middle of the storm brings infinitely more joy that when you don’t.
Getting to sing “How He Loves” while being soaked by the rain is one of the highlights of my race so far.
Until Next time, Gig’em and God Bless!
-Mags
