A Norvell Note
May 27, 2024, Vol. 28 No. 21
Out Run the Rain
As my wife, nephew, and I sat at the table one morning last week, I remembered this story from my childhood. We lived about a quarter of a mile from my Aunt Eunice and Uncle Ruby’s grocery store. We often rode our bikes down the highway to get a soft drink (we said coke refers to any soft drink: Coke, Pepsi, Pop Kola, etc.), a candy bar, or something else, or to visit. Occasionally, as we started back home on hot summer days, we’d notice a rainstorm coming our way. Naturally, we wanted to get home before the rain hit. So, we’d try to outrun the rain.
With our legs pumping as fast as we could, we’d fly down the highway (it felt like we were flying). If lucky, we’d make it to our front porch just in time to sit, watch, and listen to the rain. We were not so fortunate sometimes, and the rain would catch us. We would sit on the porch until we dried off on those occasions.
I can almost see and hear the rain chasing us, feel the drops on my back, and smell it as it cooled the hot pavement.
Reliving those hot summer days has reminded me of many times since then I have tried to outrun the rain.
When I learned my mother was dying (probably about the same time as those bike rides), I wanted to outrun the rain.
When relationships turned in the wrong direction, I wanted to outrun the rain.
When work and ministry became discouraging, and I knew the end was near, I wished I could outrun the rain.
When we learned our granddaughter’s diagnosis, I tried with all my strength to outrun the rain.
All these years later, when I’m lonely, when work gets hard, people I love are struggling, and sickness, sadness, and death overwhelm me, I wish I could outrun the rain. I wish I could make it to the front porch to sit and wait until the rain passes.
That porch no longer exists, but rainstorms continue. And there is still a safe place to go when we want to outrun the rain.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:2)
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:8)
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