10 Seconds of Rain

If you didn't catch my last post, I mentioned that Nate, David, and I slept on the streets for two nights but I only told you about one.  The second one was last night and God totally was watching and smiling upon us the whole time.  He sent some rain.

On my way to NYC, I started to read a book called The Circle Maker.  This book is all about the power of prayer and opens with the story of an Israelite prayer warrior named Honi who prayed for rain.  Israel was experiencing a drought and Honi drew a circle on the ground with his staff and asked God for rain.  God sent rain.  He sent rain that flooded the valley.  Honi prayed that God would send rain that would favor God and the rain began to lighten up and became a vital source of life and saved the people.  Honi drew his circle and prayed- God provided.

Nate, David, and I did not literally draw a circle but before we started on our two-night journey we huddled in a circle and prayed.  We asked God for His favor, for His provision, for His love, for His sight, for His Kingdom to come, for His mercy, for His compassion, for His heart.  We prayed because we know that God answers prayer.  Last night when we slept outside, God sent rain.

We went to sleep near a construction site.  The construction site?  The Brooklyn Bridge.  We asked some construction workers if we could sleep there and they said yeah that they didn't care, they said it might be loud.  Little did they know... we slept next to a highway the night before.  We went to sleep peacefully and a light drizzle rain kept us cool.  At 3am, God sent rain.

The three of us sat straight up and started packing our bags.  We didn't say a word.  The rain had picked up and we started moving simultaneously.  As we were leaving our area, a NYPD Security Guard was walking up from behind the fence that was to our back.  We don't know for sure what would have taken place but we do know that he was coming to get rid of us.  In NYC, is a homeless person doesn't have their ID with them they go to prison.  Nate and David didn't have their IDs with them so chances are we might have got locked up.  God sent rain ahead of the officer to wake us up and get us on the move to stay away from a troubling situation.  It had lightly rained all night but God chose ten seconds of heavy rain to wake us and put us on the move, all we had to do was respond.

Several lessons about God's character can be gleaned from this experience and we are praying through it and thanking God for His provision.

Pray for Rain, When God Provides, Move.