Most people have a routine when they get up in the morning and begin to get ready for work; my routine is simple, stall for as long as I possibly can before getting up and selecting the outfit for the day.

I can remember back thirty years or so ago, when the winters felt like winter and there was always a chill in the air come December through March. The dense fog used to roll in so ominously before the sun even went down, at times, and the air was so still and cold that thermal shirts and long-johns were our additional padding.

People often complain about how miserable too much rain can be and how gray skies causes some to go stir-crazy and become depressed but I've always found rain cleansing, refreshing, and puzzling. Now, granted, don't get me wrong, IF I lived in the Amazon and got dumped on every single day, maybe I'd say, "This stuff sucks!" There was a time when we used to get rain here in town, in this valley of ours; that time has since changed due to the shifting of God's timing, not necessairly global warming. When you allow man to remove farm land and replace it with buildings and roads, things definitely become influenced by the change.

The picture below was taken a few weeks ago, after something rare occurred in this city of ours, a winter rain storm. While others were thinking that two days of constant rain seemed a bit excessive, I was asking God to restrain the rainbow and allow the clouds to wring themselves completely dry.

You see, my view always seems hazy, I can see the dirt and grime of car emissions, I can see the dirt and grime of unclean living environments, I see dust, pollen, smoke, but then it rains and all I smell is the newness of all the junk being washed away and all I see are droplets which still puzzle me as to how they work together so efficiently to bring me peace.