Staying Dry in the Rain

Here in Scotland, one can walk in the rain without getting wet. The phenomenon is called Scottish mist, mizzle, smirr—but whatever one calls it—it is delightful. Cars need to use their wipers. The steady rainfall is visible. Yet walkers can pass through it and come out again with dry hair and clothes.

For the rest of my life, I want to walk in the Scottish mist and avoid downpours. I’ve never been at the top of anything. I grew up with two sisters and four brothers, all younger than me, all brilliant, all scholars in school—always on the honor roll, always at the top of their class. Me? My high school average for math is “F.” By some fluke—I did make it into college and even made the Dean’s List a couple of times…until I was forced to take math. I did the logical thing for someone with my prowess in the subject. I quit.

Because of my non-achievement in educational circles I am always staggered when I understand something that seems easy to me, but that other people don’t seem to comprehend.

Recently, I ran across a “news” feature on the internet that was repeated on a “news” broadcast on TV. The subject was: “How Dangerous is On-line Bullying?” The article—and the “news” broadcast went into great detail about how damaging cruel on-line “attacks” are to people, especially teens.

Say what? Talk about much ado over nothing. Unplug.

We suffered no damaging on-line attacks when I was a teen. We were outside playing baseball with friends, riding horses, riding bicycles, walking to visit neighbors, mowing our lawns, helping our parents in the garden, fishing, enjoying being young and alive. Parents didn’t take us places unless it was urgent. Our feet provided transportation. We walked in the mizzle, slipping through our teen years untouched and unscathed by internet content.

The same peace avails us now. Unplug from the internet. Plug into God.

It saddens me to watch teens stroll along the sidewalk, heads bent, looking at their phones. They miss the flowers along the way. No wonder so many people nowadays don’t believe in miracles—they pass by them without ever seeing them because their eyes are glued to their phones.

And the teens’ parents? Heads down looking at their phone screens and ignoring their children, those who walk with them, and the miracles around them.

Getting attacked? Unplug. Walk in the Scottish mist.

There will be problems, struggles, doubts, and uncertainties in this life. We live in a fallen world of vicious storms and battering circumstances, but this world is not our home. We are pilgrims, passing through this world to the next—heaven—where nothing grows old and there is no more sickness, hurting, sorrow, parting, or death. We are on a fantastic journey. Why choose to allow something like inane on-line content steal our joy? Unplug.

Walk in the Scottish mist and take time to experience the miracles God has placed along the path.

God wants to give us “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Isaiah 61:3. He wants to take us through this world to our home without letting the smirr turn into a downpour that drowns our spirits.

It’s simple. Unplug from people and plug into God.

Amazon.com: Stephanie Parker McKean: books, biography, latest update

Marine Climate & Common Sense

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Because I’m from Texas and grew up in southern U.S., I’m accustomed to hot temperatures and extended dry periods.

Getting acclimatized to Dunoon, Scotland, has been a challenge. It doesn’t rain every day—it rains almost every day. It has probably reached 70F during the “summer” a few times, but it hasn’t gone much above that. Mostly, I wear the same number of layers, the same jackets—and at times even the same woolly hat—summer and winter.

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One of my pet peeves is labels because they are misused. Labels that judge, condemn and hurt are wrong and not beneficial. And I hate politically correct labels like calling abortion “choice” instead of murder, and attempting to soften the blow of transgression by calling sin “risky lifestyles.”

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Some labels create a chuckle: “Warning, take child out before washing.” Or on a garden implement: “Not intended for human consumption.” Way to go me; I eat hammers for breakfast and spit out nails for the rest of the day.

Now I’ve found a label that explains why we wash clothes and hang them around the house (rain outside) and it takes them three days to dry. We live in a “Marine Climate.”

Finally! A common sense label.

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https://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-Parker-McKean/e/B00BOX90OO/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Rain…And Then Some

Joyful that it was out, I spun around to look into the sun…and found it was a streetlight. It was nine o’clock in the morning and so rainy and misty that all the street lights were still on. Rain. And. Then. Some.

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A worker was out diligently mowing a huge expanse of grass with a handheld weed eater. Here in Scotland, they call them strimmers. I was astonished. I had never seen anyone out mowing the grass before in the rain. Then I remembered: it rains here every day. Rain. And. Then. Some.

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Sometimes our lives are filled with rain—and—then some. Illness, pain, relationship problems, financial worries, tragedy…unremitting storms rock our lives and threaten to capsize our joy and scuttle our desire to keep on sailing.

When that happens, it is easy to distance oneself from God and question His existence. Why would an all-powerful, all-knowing, always-present God let bad things happen? Why would He allow bad things to happen to us?

Rain. And. Then. Some. But every raindrop, every dreary day presents an opportunity to draw close to God and build our faith. Without storms to strengthen them, tree roots would not dig into the soil and tether mighty trees. If our lives were easy, filled with fun, sunshiny days, we would never mature and grow equal to the task of living full, abundant lives.

The same rain that makes us groan when we focus on our discomfort sends a shower of beauty across the land and provides life-giving moisture for all of God’s creation. Rain. And. Then. Some.

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Restrained

Rain is a blessing.

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Yet Genesis in the Bible tells of a flood that covered the earth, and when the waters were restrained – it was a blessing. “Rain from heaven was restrained…and the surface of the ground was dry.” (Genesis 8:2-14)

Sometimes the rain of blessings in our lives is restrained and our hearts grow weary, dry, and brittle. Everything seems to go wrong. Rain falls into other people’s lives and makes their gardens flourish…dry ground surrounds us.

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Alan retired on March 31, after 35 years of ministry and we moved to a perfect little rental house in Dunoon, Scotland. Shortly after we moved in we discovered water and black mold under the floor. The floor in the hall started to break through and tiles in the kitchen cracked. Then, after running three miles one day, I was unable to walk the next. Our own spell of restrained blessings and dry ground…although perhaps “dry” is a poor choice of words since we were literally flooded under the flooring!

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We returned to Dunoon after a marvelous 8.000-mile round trip to visit family in the U.S. (me on crutches) and found ourselves installed in a hotel for three days. With tired bodies, dirty laundry, and three weeks of having been separated from our computers…we were restrained from returning to normal life. Our collie’s mobility is severely impaired from a deteriorating nerve condition, and she and I had to hobble up a flight-and-a-half of stairs several times a day. The palms of my hands blistered from balancing on the crutches going up and down. A season of restraint.

We are currently camped in a cabin at a holiday village with only a small amount of our belongings. Within a week, we will move to another house for six months while our house is repaired. No stress in retirement! Alan lost his mobile phone going through security in one airport. He lost his passport at the London airport. He cancelled his bank card and credit card when he thought his billfold was lost. Thankfully, it was lost – in the car – while we made rushed trips back and forth from our house to our temporary camp. And me? Still on crutches.

I can’t explain why the Lord has stretched out His hand and supernaturally healed me in the past, but hasn’t healed me now. I can’t explain why I have laid hands on others and prayed for them and they have been healed – but I’m still on crutches. I can’t explain why we are living out of suitcases on a patch of dry, barren ground while riots of flowers and vegetation flourish in other people’s gardens. Thankfully, God doesn’t expect me to explain. The Creator of the universe and all that is in it doesn’t want my understanding, just my trust.

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The Genesis account of the flood is an example of how God transforms restraint into blessing. So, too, the book of Job. Through no fault of his own, Job loses everything: children, possessions, health. His wife tells him to curse God and die. Two friends who come to comfort him mock him. “Job, admit that you’ve sinned. This has happened to you because of what you’ve done wrong. It’s your fault.” (Everyone needs friends like that, right?)

It wasn’t Job’s fault. Job told his friends, “He knows the way that I take. When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” A true statement. “And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning.” (Job 42:4&12)

So when dry ground crops up around your feet and God seems to be restraining the rain of blessings in your life, rejoice! Rain returns.

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