Rain (and Reign) May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. Deuteronomy 32:2 Rain! It happened this week! Not just a sprinkle but ground soaking, puddle forming rain! And I am grateful. Perhaps, like me, you too have been praying for rain. As I have prayed for rain in the literal sense, I have also prayed for God to rain down his Spirit, his love, his mercy, his justice, his life-giving Word. His Reign! What if every time we prayed for rain, we also prayed for God’s reign…for “thy Kingdom come” as well as the life giving moisture that falls from the skies. When the clouds roll in let’s pray for God’s justice and mercy to roll in too. When the thunder rumbles let us ask for His word to reverberate in us also. And what if, just as we look for the growth caused by the rain, we also looked for the growth of His reign. With the hope given by the green on the hills and the fields may we look for the hope that is in us: “Christ in us, the hope of glory!” What if we hold God at his word…that just as he sends rain from heaven not to return there but to water the earth; that his word will not return to him empty…but will accomplish his purpose. Blessings,
Matthew+ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11) | 
