“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
    let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
    let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
    I, the Lord, have created it. – Isaiah 45:8

Monday late afternoon, while I was cooking dinner, Rebekah asked when the next reasonable chance of rain was forecast. The sun was shining, the ground was dry, the plants were stressed, and nothing definitive popped up on my weather app so she went outside to water, thoroughly.

After we ate Rebekah had a meeting at the church, and as we walked out to her car the skies opened up. We enjoyed a long, deep, forty-minute soaking we hadn’t even vaguely anticipated.

Summer Heat:

I may complain about summer heat sometimes – even though it doesn’t come close to the relentless, systemic, throttling, ten-month sauna we used to experience in South-Central Florida – but there are aspects of this time of the year I truly enjoy.

I love the deep greens that surround our home in the woods, the density of the foliage, and the bright splashes of color from the summer flowers. I love tomatoes still warm from the sun, North Carolina peaches that taste like summer sunshine, and the proliferation of fresh herbs that spill out and over from the pots on our deck.

And I love a long, soaking, deep, refreshing, unexpected, serendipitous summer rain. I love the way it clears the air, brings in a cool breeze, freshens the temperature, washes away the dust, replenishes the soil, and encourages the plants.

Summer Breeze:

Summer rains remind me of God’s Spirit: washing, animating, restoring, renewing, baptizing, nourishing, blowing, cleansing, reinvigorating, refreshing. A summer breeze breathing life and spirit.

Refreshing is the right word for being together as a community. I am refreshed by God’s light and love – like a summer breeze – when we meet for worship, or Bible-study, or in small groups, or with friends for dinner, or simply the two of us sharing a devotional time over breakfast.

Come, summer rain; breath, Holy Spirit…

Blessed, and refreshed – DEREK

in the summer heat….

evening rain

refreshing rain