Rain

I love summer storms. I love to grab a book and a glass of wine and sit on the porch during them. This is something I enjoyed back in the States and I continue to enjoy here, but it's becoming somewhat bitter-sweet for me. While I find it calming and relaxing, I'm also aware of the suffering that the rain brings to many I've come to love here. It means a flooded house. Flooded dirt roads. Being up at 3:00 in the morning trying to stop water from coming into the house and trying to get water out of the house. It means not being able to go to school, church, work, etc. - putting daily life on hold - because the flooded streets and mud will ruin your one pair of shoes.

I remember a few years ago, I was in the Dominican Republic and we went to a school up in the mountains. In the morning we did activities with the children. After lunch, we were going to do activities with the children who went to school in the afternoons. It started raining as we were finishing lunch and none of the children came. I learned then that the children don't go to school when it's raining in the DR, so I wasn't surprised that the children in the barrios don't go to school or church when it rains here. In the DR, I assumed it was because they had to walk to school and they would get soaked in the rain. Being here, I've learned it's much more than just getting wet.

Currently, it's raining and I'm enjoying it, but I'm also thinking about all the children, friends and families I love and care for. I'm not sure how to deal with this. It doesn't serve any good for me to stop enjoying the rain because others are suffering. My prayers are with them and maybe that's all I can do. If there is more for me to do, I pray that God will guide me to it.