(Originally published 2013-07-04 at Trojan Horse Productions; reblogged 2014-08-27.)
Baltimore is more likely than other places, to have weather when you can see rainbows. We are coming now into a period when this is especially so. We will probably have another such time again in September.
The key to seeing rainbows is, three things have to happen at the same time: (1) The sun is shining (2) while it rains, and (3) there is blue sky somewhere.
If you happen to see the sun shining while it rains, then turn your back to the sun and look for blue sky straight ahead of you. That is where the rainbow may appear. The lower the sun is in the sky, the bigger the rainbow will be. The brighter the sun is, or the harder it’s raining, the brighter the rainbow will be. You may even see two or three rainbows, one inside the other.
Lessons from the rainbow
At the time of Noah, God decided to wipe out all life on earth and start over. God made it rain for forty days and forty nights, until the whole surface of the earth was under deep water. When dry land appeared again and Noah and his people left the ark, God promised them that God would never use a flood like this, to do this, again.
God had a bow and arrows, like hunters use. As a sign of God’s promise to Noah, God said, “I have put my bow in the clouds,” so that when it (the rainbow) appears God will remember this promise.
Another important part of this story: In our world of social turmoil — back-stabbing, injustice and crime — it can be easy to lose hope, and wonder if there is anything in the world that can make sense. God’s promise to Noah includes an important reminder of the fundamental order God has built into creation. God said:As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.
There are things you can count on.
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