Paint some rain in this picture

Last night my wife and I had dinner with some friends. The host couple’s home was impeccably and beautifully decorated and they were gracious in their hospitality. We were joined by some other friends and the conversation was engaging and intellectually stimulating and the five course meal, provided by a private chef was simply incredible. We had an awesome time and it was a thoroughly enjoyable dinner party.

We closed out our wonderful evening of fun and said our goodbyes and headed home. It was a nasty night and was raining rather hard for the 45 minute trek back to Honey Lake. It was inky black dark, dumping buckets of rain, and very difficult to see.

As I drove along wishing my windshield wipers would wipe faster I reviewed the pleasant evening and then I couldn’t help but wonder what the homeless people were doing to get out of the driving rain. I remember all too well being caught in a similar rainstorm, or other adverse weather when I was homeless and hitch-hiking or hopping freights all over the country. I would try to find shelter by sleeping on the side of the road up under a bridge, or I would often sneak into a church and try to nap on a pew or floor, or even on someone’s front stoop to escape the misery of the rain and cold. It’s no fun being out in the cold rain when you are homeless.

My thoughts turned to the wonderful evening that I just experienced. All the while we were eating and enjoying our delicious meal, and the clever wit and charming conversation, a wicked storm was pounding those less fortunate.

My wife had tears streaming down her face the other night as we watched a “60 Minutes” segment on homeless kids. I have to admit I teared up myself as they interviewed these little kids and they told how hard their lives are in dealing with the poverty and living in cars, cheap motels, and dangerous shelters. Perhaps the worst thing that many of them are enduring is being made fun of by other kids for having ragged clothes and shabby haircuts. It’s actually more devastating to them than going hungry.

I sometimes imagine myself as a fly on the wall watching God, the Master Divine Artist, creatively working at his easel. I can see Him hard at work on Honey Lake giving it a deep azure blue color and making it 12 feet deep throughout with an occasional 17 foot hole or two just for the fish to congregate in. And of course how could He forget to open a nice crevice deep down to the crystal clear springs beneath the earth to be used to fill it and keep it full.

No self respecting lake in Florida would be devoid of trees and I can see Him adding towering cypress trees along the banks and surrounding His masterpiece with giant live oaks and adorning them with Spanish moss. Sprinkle in a few lily pads here, insert some irises there; include lush green fields and wild flowers to surround it; add a few wood ducks, herons, and ibis; and top it off with a fabulous sunset every evening and the masterpiece is complete.

Or is it?

What is missing in this picture?

Hmmm

Rain!

Life cannot be sustained without rain, can it? God in His infinite wisdom, (that we cannot even begin to comprehend) determined that rain was a necessary ingredient in life; who are we to question Him?

There is an interesting book entitled, “If you want the rainbow you have to put up with the rain”. I had some rain in my life and I can tell you I appreciate the sunshine and that beautiful rainbow now. I think my compassion for those less fortunate was enhanced by suffering through many dark days and nights of misery.

Enjoy God’s blessings, warmth, and comfort, but please don’t forget those who are less fortunate and suffering. Look at the rain that surrounds all of our lives as God is giving us all an opportunity to help others who are less fortunate. Take advantage of it. A good place to start is by giving to the Salvation Army, or the “Sally Ann” as it is fondly referred to by street people.

One of every 200 families in this country had to visit a homeless shelter last year. These folks for the most part are not wretched despicable street bums, but are merely some people who got caught up in a bad economic downturn, often through absolutely no fault of their own.

Jesus said that the poor are blessed; shouldn’t we have the same spirit? The Bible states that kindness to the poor can water our own life-garden without rain. Amazing…

Is. 58:10
“And if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”