Water water everywhere

This happened when we had only been in Uganda for a few weeks: we were staying in the Jacksons' house, and just down from us, our neighbours had four students staying in their converted garage - complete with lino on the floor, a table and beds, a charcoal burner to cook on. But they told us that the roof leaked when the heavy rain fell.  It was just as well that the practice was stopped not long after. Anyway, the campus is on the side of a hill which stands up above all the surrounding area, so that when the rains come, first the heavy clouds assemble, billowing and swelling over the top of the hill, and when they start to spread out over the top, the rain suddenly pours, - in bucketfuls. On this day, as the clouds began to gather and swell and the thunder began, we saw these four girls run out of their accommodation and take up stances in the road, faces pointing up towards the clouds, fists raised against them: "You shall NOT rain! In the name of Jesus, we command you, you shall not rain!" Unfortunately though the thunder growled and rumbled on, and soon the fat globs of water began to fall and splash around their feet, and then, slightly muted, "OK, you may rain, but you may not spoil our things!"

I have been saying the exact same prayer in my head over the last couple of days, even though feeling that praying against the weather is seemingly pointless. It is going to come. But England has been inundated with water again these last two weeks. There is flooding in the north, south, east and west. Hundreds of people were flooded out of their homes over Christmas. And we know from our experience in 2007, when our house in Gloucester flooded badly, that it can be up to six months before you can move back into the house, depending on builders, insurance and, the weather. So it is no small thing. 

Flooded fields just outside Gloucester today

Our area has just escaped so far although the big river Severn, in whose valley Gloucester lies, has burst its banks at several points. But the fields all around where our little house is, in Longford, are all covered with water now. A few more heavy downpours, and it seems likely that the roads will flood again. No, Lord, please! (We ourselves are living in a rented house in a safer part of town, but it is our tenant - and also our floors and walls - in the little house we let out that I am talking about.)

I have often wondered about God and the weather. I know we all ask those questions when there is a major weather-related disaster, such as the Tsunami, or the earthquake in Haiti - but also, what about just, a country getting a lot of rain? Or, a lot of sunshine, like Uganda? The weather affects everything - the economy, food production, as well as also people's mentalities, plans, and even their happiness levels. Is God involved in the weather? He must be. Yet it seems so random. And can we pray about it? I remember hearing people say, "You mustn't pray for fine weather for your wedding day/bbq/swimming party - think of the poor farmers who badly need the rain!" Annoying, but true I suppose! "Nice weather for ducks" about sums it up - the weather we want may not be what our fellow-creatures want.

What about this:

"He sends his command out to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool, he scatters hoar frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow."  Ps 147: 15-18.

As God is in charge of this world, the weather is in his remit as well, of course, as this psalm shows. But it seems clear that God normally lets the world run along in its natural course, which includes the weather as well, for good and for bad - this is the only explanation for illness, for birds being eaten by cats in the garden, for people losing their jobs, and all those things that happen that we wish didn't happen. What I hold onto is that God can and does intervene at times, but honestly, it would be ridiculous to think of him providing the exact right weather for all our requirements from one day to the next - how could he run the world like that? He also expects us to use our brains to find ways of living in the world as it is.

But anyway, I shall still pray that Gloucester doesn't get flooded, because I really don't want it to! But I have to accept that if it does, God will help us and everyone else get through it, that this is part of living in a messed-up world, that this life isn't all we have.

Waves

Put yourself here... mmmmmmm....

In England today it is zero degrees, grey-skied and snowing. Mid-March!!!! I could do with this beach right now... You can just hear the waves just gently, continuously, ... hissing? sighing? pshhhing? towards you and frothing right over your toes. And the sun feels warm on your face and the sand is warm and the water is deliciously cool...

This Sunday at our church we had quite a special visiting speaker, Guy Chevreau. He is Canadian and his name is pronounced Gee, like ghee. He is a renewal theologian and wrote the first book looking at the theology and context of the Toronto Blessing (as a believer in it), "Catch the Fire." Since then he has written other books and is a well-known speaker. We use his book Turnings, on revivals, in our courses at WTC. And now Dan and I have a signed copy for ourselves!

Guy talked about how God initiates, and how God's grace is like the waves of the sea, rolling in one after another, without ceasing. He referred to John ch 1, where it says, "from his mercy we have all received, grace upon grace." He told us that research has shown that on average, a wave rolls into the beach every eight seconds, and that in 24 hours, about 10,000 waves come in. So God's grace comes to us wave after wave, grace after grace, grace upon grace. So we should be open to receiving the grace, the goodness, and expect it. He said he himself has had a tough four years, but he has a peace that God has tremendous blessings for him. So he doesn't mean that life is good all the time, rather that God is blessing us all the time, if we only knew it.

Another thing, he said that when we stand on the beach and look out to sea, we can only see a certain distance. But beyond where we can see, the waves are still rolling towards us. So, there are waves of grace coming towards us, for the things that we don't even know are going to happen yet.

It was a good message, comforting in the sense of strengthening, and building and reassuring. So I thought I would pass it on to you.

Storm and sun

Abigail took this picture. It speaks to me of how we live in our small houses in this big world, where storm clouds roll and pile overhead and overwhelm, but the sun still rises, it finds a way, and shines through, eventually, every time. And for that I am thankful.

I don't know if this is a very good poem, but, it helped me in the past and I thought of it when I saw Abby's pictures today:

God has not promised
sun without rain
joy without sorrow
peace without pain.

But God has promised

strength for the day,
rest for the labour,
light for the way,
grace for the trials,
help from above,
unfailing sympathy,
undying love.

by Kevin Mayhew.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A seasonal thought!

Looking ahead to winter...

Today it was 26 degrees! One of the hottest days of the summer!

But I popped into a charity shop anyway and tried on a chunky beige cardigan... which didn't look too good, so I didn't buy it.

But the fact is, my thoughts have begun to turn to winter, and in particular, how to stay warm this winter... Because I am determined not to be cold this winter, whatever it takes.

Several things have informed the realisation that it is all about the clothes. One is Alex's school which runs something called Forest School, an outdoor education programme where once a week they play around in a kind of swamp, making things, even in the wettest coldest winter weather. One of the mottoes of Forest School is, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." Hmm.

Another thing is, that I have been googling around the question, "How long does it take to adjust to a colder climate?" And all I can find is a raft of people's comments giving other people advice about adjusting, and it is ALL about the clothing.

From my experience last winter, this would be my advice to someone moving back to a cold winter after living in a hot place:

You need a good warm hat - we all know that heat goes out through the head.

You definitely need a good warm windproof coat - heat seeps out through all other clothing.

You need seriously good warm boots - heat goes out like anything through the soles of the feet.

You need leg warmers or longjohns because heat escapes like crazy through the ankles.

You need a woolly scarf, not a cotton one, because heat really does escape from the neck no matter what else you are wearing.

Oh, and gloves.

All these things are available in charity shops and are starting to appear there already- but wool does get moggy and pillated, so I plan to be choosy, and may splash out on some new things. In any case, this winter apparently I am just going to look like a heap of wool and blankets.

This mental preparation was partly triggered by a couple we recently met, who have returned from living abroad, and were cold even though it was a pretty warm sunny August day. So we talked about how long it actually takes the body to acclimatise to a cooler or hotter climate. They had read somewhere that it takes roughly three months for a new climate to feel "OK" as in, I can manage this, and it takes three years for a new climate to feel normal. Which means, I have a few more years to go...
(And we aren't even in Minnesota - this is temperate England!)

This was me last winter with Dan and a friend Pauline, who used to live and work in Tanzania. I was very cold that day... but still smiling I guess.

Strawberries and Cream...

My non-British friends may or may not know this, but if you were asked to epitomise an English summer, you would probably say: strawberries and cream, garden parties with Pimms and lemonade, Wimbledon on the TV, cricket (for some), picnics in the park/countryside, family days on the beach...

Nothing beats an English summer. But this year something has gone wrong...! Honestly, my first English summer for years! Worse than usually wrong, that is. OK, we always get quite a lot of rain, but this year, we have had a LOT a lot of rain. The wettest summer since records began 100 years ago. Flooding all over the country. Nine out of ten cricket matches, parties, BBQs, and open air concerts cancelled because of... the rain.

(not my pictures, I am glad to say)

Gloucester has thankfully escaped scenes like these...

Tewkesbury, just a few miles north of us, earlier in July

 According to the weather-men, the problem is the Gulf Jet Stream, which normally sweeps down and  around the Atlantic Ocean bringing us warm sunny summer weather on its right shoulder - but which has this year dropped south by a very long way, leaving us on its left shoulder and therefore in the rain and cold. For weeks. Temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees when it should be high 20s. These graphics I stole from Google give the idea:

I really needed the sunshine too... but, it looks as though this weather pattern is going to be with us until at least the end of July. Possibly until September. Aaaaaaggghhhhhh!!!

But we are trying to be British and stoical and making the best of it. The evenings are still light until nearly 10.00 pm, so that helps. Walking with Frodo come rain or shine also helps. Alex has managed to play a few cricket matches:

And yesterday Alex and I went strawberry-picking, and today we all feasted on meringues, strawberries and clotted cream... mmmmmmmm...