Rain and More Rain in the U.P.

Waiting for that Rainbow!

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Gen 9:12:16 NIV)

 

I am only a few days into my vacation and I am waiting on that rainbow. We arrived in the U.P. on Friday afternoon. There had been a storm in the morning so there was no Verizon service in most of the county. Howard could not remember where he put the password for the internet so there was no way to communicate with family to let them know we arrived safely. Within an hour of arriving at the house the power in half of the house went out. I found the password for the internet and was able to get online and after Howard ran a few extension cords from the part of the house that did have power he was able to watch Netflix and Amazon after we got unpacked. 

 

What a relief! We were thinking we might have to have the whole house rewired. On Saturday, we called the electric company and by the afternoon we had power again in the whole house. We managed to get the house in order on Saturday. It rained most of the day.

 

I woke up in the wee hours of Sunday morning to a flashing bright light. The lightning was flashing so hard and so fast it was. Without the internet, I also don't have the ability to make phone calls so I could not call the phone company to report the outage and I could not work on a blog. It was one of the rare days that I missed doing that over the years. There is no cell service at our home here in the U.P. so we connect through the internet. I don't know how Verizon has managed that; but, they have and it is great as long as we have wi-fi.

 

We arrived at the church expecting to hear either Pr. Jimalee Jones or Pr. Gunderson preaching. That did not happen, either. The storm was so bad between their home and Skanee that the roads were impassable. Pr. Peter Suomela (a member at Zion) had been called to do a quick pulpit supply. He did an outstanding job especially since he had no time to prepare. It was very good to see old friends and neighbors at worship.

 

Following worship we were going to head to the closest Wal-Mart to purchase a coffee maker (ours had sprung a leak over the winter) and a printer so that I could get some work done. We had to go to Marquette, MI as we could not go to the closest Wal-Mart in Houghton, MI. All roads in or out of Houghton and everything north of Houghton in the Keweenaw were closed. The storm during the night took out many of the roads. I believe the Upper Peninsula may now have more sink holes than Florida! Nah! Probably not. But, over 60 sink holes in one night is a bit much. I can't even begin to imagine how long it will take to clean up that mess. Roads were destroyed. Homes and businesses were destroyed. There are photos of the disaster at the WLUC-TV 6 Facebook page. 

It rained Sunday afternoon and evening; the power went out again for a little over an hour, again.

So, here we are on our fourth day at our home in Michigan. It is raining. There are no rainbows in site. This is beautiful country with wonderful neighbors and friends. But, I am waiting for that rainbow, even as I am reminded of one of the reasons I had decided it was time to move to Florida a couple of years ago. The summer before I left my driveway never dried out. Most of the summer was wet with cloudy, gloomy looking skies. I like the sunshine! I don't mind the rain. I even enjoy a thunderstorm now and then. But, I would also like the sun to shine and to make those beautiful rainbows every now and then, as well. I am sure I will seen one day before my vacation ends. They are a symbol of hope and promise. No matter how gloomy things appear there is always hope because we have God's promises.

There is always hope. May God lift up all who are suffering from the losses incurred due to the disaster in Houghton County. May their rainbows shine some light and hope on all of our lives.

God's Peace - Pr. J