Six Days and Counting

Don’t tell the Chamber of Commerce, but Denver is in the middle of a weather funk that I’ve not seen before. Six days and counting. September should bring seventy degrees and sunshine. Frankly, nearly every day in Denver delivers sunshine… but not the past six days.

The skies have pulled a grey blanket of clouds over our horizon. Intermittent rain and daytime temperatures in the 50’s have put counselors from Seattle on special alert.

For six days.

The chill is pervasive. And the clouds can’t be persuaded to vacate.

With each persistent day of grey I am invited into the reality of life. I plead for sunshine, but clouds form. I beg for warmth, and the temperature stalls. I insist on blue skies and they’re a no show.

O Lord, why do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor.
Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
For they brag about their evil desires;
they praise the greedy and curse the Lord. (Psalm 10:1-3, NLT)

It’s raining God. It’s cold and bleak. I look at the headlines and I see no sign of sun. Where are you? Will we ever feel your warmth again?

And then, in the gloom, Jesus. He doesn’t change the forecast, He enters the storm. He walks with us in the grey. He offers no pep talk, but rather companionship and comfort. Six days of rain isn’t a sign that God has left, it’s a beautiful invitation to see Him in a new light. In the shadows, He is there. With me. Always. When I need an umbrella and not sunscreen… Jesus.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
              the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you. (Psalm 139:11-12, ESV)

Amazing God. Stunning reality. You didn’t obliterate the clouds and drizzle, you entered them. You showed me that gloom is no match for you.

Feeling the weight of grey? Burdened? Beleaguered?

Does the forecast look like more of the same?

I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me. (Psalm 139:7-10, NLT)

Six days and assured, that I am never away from His presence.

Side by side in the drizzle of life. Jesus. Savior. Friend.