“Rain and rainbows are great reminders…”

that refraction is pretty damn cool. Which reminds me.. ever watch this?

Hopefully kids today are learning about sunlight and the prism effect of water droplets. “That wasn’t happening 20 years ago.” Sure it hell was. I was a sprinkler dodger in my youth and well familiar with the phenomena. It’s happened for as long as there’s been sunshine and water droplets. So, at least 6000 years, dontcha know…

I’ve taken my blog post title from the title of a different article, one about Noah’s Ark by Barrett Vanlandingham.

Genesis 7:11-12 tells us, “–On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.”

When the water receded, Noah left the ark and sacrificed some of the animals on an altar.

God was pleased. So, He placed a rainbow in the sky as an agreement between Himself and all life on earth (ref: Gen. 9:18) that He would never again destroy the earth by flood (v.21).

A rainbow must have been quite an impressive sight since it may also have been the first time one had ever appeared.

This wonder of nature is still an incredible sight today.

It certainly was for the woman in the video. Wow. I wonder what her reaction would be to sun dogs. I expect she’s too far south to ever see them, but she’d probably blame contrails or something.

Given what we know about the way light acts when it passes through water, “incredible” isn’t really the word for it. It’d be far more incredible if conditions were right to create a rainbow and one did not appear where we were looking for it. They are typical, not atypical. They are expected. Not because God’s happy. Not because he apologized to what he let live on earth and thought they’d be amused at this point by some pretty colours. Because it’s the way our eyes and brain translate and display the passing of light through water droplets. That is all it is.

The message it has brought for over four-thousand years now continues to paint a beautiful picture of hope for believers, and should strike fear in the hearts of non-believers.

The colors that arch through the clouds remind us that God keeps His promises.

He promises he won’t flood the planet. He’ll just allow the descendants of the sinful Adam and Eve do it, as an effect of humanity’s curse on the world.

No wonder we’re supposed to do what the author suggests next:

So, what does this mean to us today? The message of Jesus Christ is true! But sadly, scripture says that most people will not choose the righteous path that leads to salvation (Matthew 7:13-14).

Yes, this fact poses a challenge for Christians who spend their lives telling their friends and family the Gospel story of salvation through Jesus Christ.

But, it will be a bigger problem for non-believers who, just like in Noah’s days, refuse to listen until it is too late. May God bless your efforts to win souls this week.

Which reminds me, supposedly the countdown is on to Judgement Day (May 21st), so there aren’t many days left for this soul winning competition. I wonder if they participate on an individual level, or compete as church teams for the grand prize.

I don’t really care who’s in the running to “win” that. When the end of the world does not happen on October 21st, I’ll be laughing my ass off watching believers move the goal posts somewhere else. This November’s a contender, too, and there’s still December 21st of 2012 to get ready for. Still gotta worry about those Mayans. Pascal’s wager leaves room for the possibility that all these Christians should have been worshiping Chac, just to be on the safe side.

Bringer of rain, as it turns out:

Very important for harvests and growing, CHAC sends rain into the world by weeping from his large benevolent eyes.

How fortuitous. Now you’re going to think I planned that. I assure you that I did not. It’s just funny how things work out.