40 days and 40 nights ....

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Mt. 5:45b).

Thank God the rains came! According to the Weather Channel (that's their Doppler Image from Friday at 5:00) we are supposed to get about 4 inches of rain in the next 24 hours and there is a flood watch for Manassas. But thank God for it. To me it is an answered prayer. (I might feel differently if the creek rises too high).

But I cut the dust (notice I did not say grass) in my yard last week and I saw the bushes we paid good money for withering from a lack of rain. The weather guys have been saying that September was one of the driest months we have had in years, and there was only 0.15 of one inch of rain. That's compared to about 4 inches on average. So thank God for the rain.

Now if you are flooded out, like some of the poor folks in New Orleans or Biloxi, you have probably seen enough rain for a while. But if you have been kicking up dirt where your lawn used to be like I have been, rain is a welcome visitor.

Now that means something for Christians in the District as well -- the Luis Palau DC Festival starts tomorrow (Saturday). There are millions of dollars of equipment and tents and other stuff on the mall, and some big name musical acts, including CeCe Winans, Steven Curtis Chapman, Third Day, and Jaci Velazquez are scheduled to appear as part of the Festival. It runs two days, and right now if the weather holds it could be a soggy time.

But is that a bad thing? It illustrates to me how one person can view the same happening as negative and another as answered prayer. My prayer has been for about three days of rain, just because the area has been so dry. I'm sure the folks on the Mall would have loved weather like we had earlier this month, bright sunshine and blue skies with temperatures around 80. But somebody's not going to get what they want. Some of the folks in blue ponchos tomorrow might not think they are standing in an answered prayer; I see things a little differently.