If Only We Catch The Rain

If only we beat the rain.

Had we arrived but ten minutes earlier, we would have avoided the mess. But no, as soon as we parked the car and got out the ten, the heavens broke open and it started to pour. "Hurry! Set up the tent before the rains get stronger and the ground becomes too saturated," we were instructed. So we headed out to the field in the pouring rain to set up our tent for the weekend at the Global Missions Experience.

After unrolling the groundcloth, spreading out the tent, and feeding the poles through the material, we discovered a major problem. One of the strings that holds the poles together had snapped, leaving us with a broken pole in the pouring rain.

As a friend tried to help us fix it, we noticed a river of water running downhill toward us. It was raining so hard and so fast that you could literally watch the giant puddle rushing toward us. "Roll it up! Roll it all up quick!" we yelled as we gathered up the tent and groundcloth - covered in mud, water, grass, and all - in a big soggy bundle, stuffed it in the bag, and ran for cover.

If only we had beat the rain.

Once we found shelter, we looked at each other - all drenched, shivering, and defeated - and laughed hysterically. Currently homeless for the weekend, we began to ask around for a tent. We found a friend who would let all six of us stay with her in her tent for the weekend.

That night, the grand total of eight of us girls snuggled down in that tent (made for four, I believe) and listened to the pitter-patter of pain on the tent, thankful for a brief moment of dryness. But brief it was.

The next morning, we noticed that the tent was leaking a little bit of water, but no big deal. We wiped it up with a towel and carried on. It continued to rain all day long, and when we returned to the tent, we found a little surprise.

"It's a lake in there!" Sure enough, water had completely flooded the bottom of the tent. My friend picked up her pillow, which probably weighed fifteen pounds, and water ran out of it like a waterfall. All of our sleeping bags, pillows, and some of our clothes were saturated with rainwater. "Welcome to camp Soggy Bottoms!" I said as we all howled with laughter.

Even though at that moment it seemed like everything that possibly could go wrong did go wrong, my friends and I kept an amazingly positive attitude. What could have been percieved as a disatster that ruined the weekend turned out to be a source of laughter and adventure.

And this joyful attitude was not only reflected in my circle of friends, but also by the attendees of the workshop as a whole. Although the entire Global Missions Experience was outdoors and it rained the entire time, I heard no complaining or negativism. Nothing could crush our spirits because of the joy we felt as we gathered to celebrate God's kingdom around the world and encourage one another to find our place in that mission.

Over the course of the weekend, we attended classes where we were encouraged to use our majors to contribute to the global mission of God. We went to learning stations where we got hands-on experience with gardening, building latrines, purifying water, and more. We heard keynotes from past and current missionaries, who told stories and shared insights from the mission field. We got to meet people who share a passion for global missions, and we got to network with people who we will be able to work with in the future.

In addition to all of this, we got rained on. We learned to be flexible and positive in seemingly unfortunate circumstances. We learned to let go of our comforts and live to some extent like the majority of the world does - without cell phone service, heating and airconditioning, modern shelter, and sometimes dry clothes. And no one seemed to mind. It was all part of the experience.

At the end of the workshop, one speaker mentioned that he had prayed for good weather all weekend. However, God had given us rain. And God was more glorified by our ability to walk and worship through the rain than He would have been if it had been bright and sunny all weekend.

I thought back to my original thought at the beginning of the weekend. If only we beat the rain...

I am glad we didn't. In life, the rains come, and we just can't beat 'em. That's when we have to open wide our hands to recieve the downpour as a sanctifying gift from heaven. That's when we decide to be thankful in all circumstances. We learn to laugh at ourselves, and we keep a positive attitude because of how great God is.

So it's not if only we beat the rain, but rather, if only we catch the rain.

The rain will come,  and probably has already arrived for many of us. It is what we decide to do in response that makes all the difference in the world.