Release the Dove

Has anyone been asked to make an ark?  Because if you have I believe it and will gladly help you build it.  It has rained so much this summer that one could think that the great flood was coming again.  Last week we were at ASP (Appalachia Service Project) helping to make homes safer, warmer, and drier.  It was a long week with off and on rain throughout.

One day it rained so hard and the sun was still shining that one of the most beautiful rainbows I have ever seen lit up the sky.  It was awesome and a story for another blog entry because this one is about our trip home from ASP.

As we were headed back to Raleigh, from about Winston Salem on, it rained.  I mean in places it poured down rain.  It was raining so hard a times that it was hard to see where we were going.  I was really hoping that it would slow down as we got closer to Raleigh because I was thinking about how we were going to unload the van. As we closed in on Raleigh and passed the PNC arena, the rain was coming down in sheets. 

I started to devise a plan about pulling each van up under the drive under area in front of the preschool and unloading there.  Then parents could drive up and pick each youth up individually.   I told my van to start cleaning up so we could be quick when we got to the church. 

As we pulled onto 440 and passed Crabtree mall, the rain was still coming down hard.  I said a quick prayer as we were going closer to our exit.  I asked God if he could stop the rain at least long enough for us to unpack the vans from our mission trip. It was still raining hard until I pulled onto Six Forks Road.

The minute I turned onto Six Forks, the hard rain stopped and only a drizzle remained.  As I got closer to the church the rain slowly started to end.  When we pulled into the parking lot the rain had completely stopped.

We were able to unload all the vans without a drop of water falling on us.  I looked up at one point as I was moving stuff from a van and the sky which had been filled with clouds all day long was blue above me and the sun was peaking out from behind a cloud. 

I think that was what it must of been like for Noah when the dove that he released came back to him with an olive branch showing him that there was dry land and that the water had gone down.  I didn't release a dove and I didn't build an ark but God was watching over us when we returned from our mission trip. It is truly amazing what God can do...

Oh, just a FYI it started raining again an hour after we unloaded...