Drenching. Rains. I am so grateful for a couple of drenching rains in the last few days that have fallen on parched ground and swollen and restored withered roots. After a record hot summer, fall downpours are penetrating deeply into the dry cockles of the Texas soil and Texas soul. These big, fat drops are more than welcome.

I love waking up in the middle of the night to the belting claps of thunder, electric flashes of lightening, but most of all the sweet and refreshing scent of rain. That smell takes me to another world, releases a hope and joy in my soul, is something I crave.

Fading Fragment

Sometimes the rain carries me to the eternal God Himself

whose shadow He deigned to shimmer

within a

the fading fragment of a raindrop. When heaven and earth blend,

the atmosphere grows redolent with eternity. One tiny picture

of that mix is rain and earth. This mingling

takes on an irresistible scent. Before the heavens open,

the smell is heady and captivating; there is a

compelling—earthy yet ethereal quality—in the fragrance when water

from heaven first touches the dirt of earth. Those initial few

drops of a downpour fusing with common soil are bursting with life,

with potential. That aromatic blend—earth and first rain mingled—is

a fraction of forever: A symbol of eternity. It is a withering moment

that says, “Heaven and earth are inextricably bound, and God created

humankind in His image and intends for us to live forever.” God uses

withering moments and events to point to things that are eternal.