Rainbows

I took a mini Sabbath time away from the queen's bubble today. It's something that i'm trying out this year once a month to hopefully refocus and recharge a bit before burnout occurs. Yet another thing I learned on Project: rest should be taken as a pro-active measure before you crash or feel you need a break...like it wasn't until I'd completely run out of steam that I'd take a day or weekend off this summer while in Montreal. It was then (the day i took off before my family arrived...the day when jon fell off the skateboard...hee hee) that I thought "hmmmm...maybe if I did this sort of thing more regularly, it would actually PREVENT reaching the end of my rope instead of trying to repair it while it was happening in mid-crisis and being my last possible resort for staying afloat before drowning in the entropy of life. It's kinda like drinking a ton of water before a big soccer game on a hot sweltering day, knowing that you may not be thirsty now, but you're most certainly gunna need it come the 85-minue mark of the game. I think Sabbaths and rest are kinda like that too.

I found a beautiful conservation area on the shore of Lake Ontario, well-away from the stress of campus and the noise of the city. It's amazing how soothing crashing waves can be to an anxious mind or watching a rainstorm come in over the waters, knowing full well you're in for a HUGE soaking, but not really caring. Just sitting still and loving God (as jeremoi so elequently put it a while back). Why can't life always be that way? Maybe it's cuz we don't let it....or cuz we don't live near the ocean. But you get what i mean...

So my time away got ambushed by a massive rainstorm, so i headed back to my car with hair dripping and shoes sloshing, a little bit grr-ish cuz my quiet time had been cut short by God's Creation...kinda ironic i guess. So i was like "ok God...what's the deal?". A minute later, the most beautiful rainbow emerged in the sky, starting from the horizon and working its way up into the heavens.

"When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." (Gen. 9:16)

Ok, God. I get the point. You are faithful and you keep your promises. Always.

I drove to Chapters instead as an alternative to the wilderness to do some reading, but it just didn't seem like the right place to be. So i left the mixed aroma of Starbucks coffee and new books behind, got into my car, and lo-and-behold, another rainbow connecting heaven and earth on the horizon. I stared at it for a while, then pulled back onto the road. Before long, I realized where the rainbow was pointing: straight into the heart of Queen's campus.

"Then God said, 'I am giving you a sign of my convenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my convenant with you and all the earth'" (Gen. 9: 12-13)

All. Including Queen's. Including York. Including UBC. Including Montreal. Including Mongolia. Including Africa. Including "us". Including "them".

God is just so cool sometimes!

Take the time to get away...even if it's just for an hour for a hike in the rain and a trip to Chapters. God shows you some pretty unreal stuff if you let Him!


{that's a picture i took in St. Lucia last summer of a rainbow pouring into the Carribean ocean}