Marti and I were talking in the kitchen last night as we often do in the evening when we were interrupted by a strange noise. It forced us to stop and stare at each other for a moment. What was that sound? It seemed to be coming from everywhere. Was it the rumble of an approaching earthquake? Were the water pipes rattling again? Had a gathering of dancing squirrels decided to throw a party on our roof?
Finally Marti said, “I think it might be raining!”
“No way,” I said as we rushed out the front door to be greeted by the sound of rain on the porch roof.
We stood there for a moment taking it all in. The smell of fresh rain on the dusty earth like wet weeds, the sound of clanging gutters emptying their contents on the ground, the feeling of energy from all those freed-up ions in the air. It felt like God just threw a soft wet blanket over us — like this was just for us. Most of you probably don’t get the significance of this because you are used to summer rains, but here in southern California, rain anytime between April and October is cause to stop everything and take note.
Of course we are currently in a serious drought which only heightens this experience, not to mention the extreme heat and resulting wildfires that are already raging and we aren’t even in the worst of the fire season yet.
Lakes and reservoirs are way down with brown bathtub rings around them; dams are useless. Boat slips are stranded halfway up the shore on dry land. Paved launching lanes stop long before there is any water to launch in. Surely this brief little dampening of the landscape won’t make even a dimple in this current drought, but it still was an amazing, totally unexpected gift from God, and a reminder of His grace, and the fact that He can do anything He wants, whenever He wants.
John Fischer The Catch 
My wife and I were enjoying our quiet Sunday afternoon as we often do reading the newspaper and listening to the radio when we were interrupted by a strange noise. It forced us to so stop and stare at each other for a moment. What was that sound? It seemed to be coming from downstairs. Was it our adult son violently moving furniture? Was he throwing things against the wall? Did someone break in and he was wrestling them to the ground?
Finally, I saw the smoke and flames and said, “I think our house may be on fire!”
She looked up at me with a puzzled expression.
We walked through the dining room toward the second-story deck, opened the sliding glass door, and smelled the acrid odor of burning wood, metal and plastic. The clatter we heard was the shattering of the downstairs window from the heat and our son rushing outside to pull a burning picnic table and benches away from the house. The flames lapped up the wall and post supporting the second-story deck where my wife and I were standing.
It’s been very dry up here in Washington, something locals aren’t accustomed to. But we’re approaching a record number of days without significant moisture in the Evergreen State and us natives take our rain seriously and accept it gratefully. I dare say most of us are looking forward to a cool and lush autumn. And after awhile, some of us will grumble again about the gray skies and continual wetness.
We managed to douse the flames and now we get to deal with the insurance company and contractors, etc. But, we are thankful to God that it wasn’t any worse than it is and that something good is going to come out of this (regardless of how it appears right now) as a reminder of His grace, and the fact that He can do anything He wants, whenever He wants.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Shalom, Peace…
Wow. What a close call! We will pray that all will go well with the recovery of your home and thankful everyone is safe.
We are so blessed by God how he does what he does and when he wants to do that. We had rain here in Vegas. Mixed with some wind Sunday night and just a steady shower for a bit Monday early evening. Drought also here but, so true how the Lord really blessed us with some good showers for awhile.