The Great Work of God: Rain

I bought a wonderful little (Actually fairly large but little sounds better) book of devotionals by John Piper when I was in Ohio. I've only read a few thus far, but i've enjoyed reading some insights which link Biblical truth to the practical realities faced in the world today. It is refreshing.

Today's dose was all about rain and God's hand in it. I enjoyed it and I hope you do too!

The Great Work of God: Rain

A Thanksgiving Meditation

Job 5:8-10

But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth, And sends water on the fields. Job 5:8-10

If you said to someone: "My God does great and unsearchable things; He does wonders without number," and they responded, "Really? Like what?" would you say, "Rain"?

When I read these verses recently I felt like I did when I heard the lyrics to a Sonny and Cher song in 1969: "I'd live for you. I'd die for you. I'd even climb the mountain high for you." Even? I would die for you. I would even climb a high mountain for you? The song was good for a joke. Or a good illustration of bad poetry. Not much else.

But Job is not joking. "God does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number." He gives rain on the earth." In Job's mind, rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. So when I read this a few weeks ago, I resolved not to treat it as meaningless pop musical lyrics. I decided to have a conversation with myself (= meditation).

Is rain a great and unsearchable wonder wrought by God? Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source. From where?

Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.

That's heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it's so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That's a nice word. What's it mean? It means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What's that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That's small.

What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. What about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then dumps it on the farm?

Well it doesn't dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.

How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall (if that's the way to ask the question)? Well, it's called coalescence. What's that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. And when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up, if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.

I think, instead, I will just take Job's word for it. I still don't see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down, but if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there is a name for that too. But I am satisfied now that, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done. I think I should be thankful - lots more thankful than I am.

Grateful to God for the wonder of rain,

Pastor John


By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Mercy Ships

Earlier this year a member of my church gave a brief talk about how she was going to be spending the next 6 months of her life, specifically that of serving on board the Africa Mercy, a hospital ship operated by a Christian charity called Mercy Ships.

I was both deeply impressed and moved by what I saw in that short presentation. I was especially stunned at just what a relatively small number of volunteers and one ship can make to whole nations in Africa. My conviction was also great when I considered the the fact that we in the west can build whole fleets of warships and yet manage to only send one small hospital ship to the coasts of some of the poorest nations on Earth.

Now I don't want to turn this into a rally against the world's navies (I would actually be someone who defends their existence and maintains the importance of a strong naval force), nor do I want to suggest that Mercy Ships is the only organistion in Africa working with these poorer communities. Likewise I am sure Mercy Ships has its faults and carries some 'baggage' into the countries it goes in to help. But I just want to encourage you to take more of an interest in their work, to pray over their work, to even perhaps contribute in some way financially.

This is on my mind this afternoon as I read through the Annual Review of Mercy Ships and consider the words of the Mercy Ships Chairman in the UK on the ships impact on the recently war-torn Liberia:

'When the Africa Mercy sailed out of the port of Monrovia last December, this nation was not the same! A new Hope hadcome! In close collaboration with a new and positive government, the Africa Mercy had played a key role in helping so many.
In those four years, Mercy Ships and her volunteer doctors provided over 4,500 eye operations, over 3,700 reconstructive surgeries and more than 49,000 dental treatments. Added to this, our health care teams provided training in vollages throughout the Country.'

Mercy ships not only provides impressive care in communities in terms of health and education, it also does so with a Christian spiritual awareness. It is a fantastic outreach and demonstration of God's love and service to the poor. So, please consider giving it a few minutes of prayerful attention today. Thanks!

http://www.mercyships.org.uk/

American TV Take 2

I suppose the title of this note should really be American Adverts Take 2. I've been home for a few days now and I'm deeply sadened that I will no longer be able to witness the amazing wonder that are American adverts. For instance I shall not be able to see the miraculous talking dog advert for a Delaware computer shop, which not only looked like it was shot on a cheap hand held video camera, but also finished with the dog flying. Oh, and did I mention it featured great scenes such as the one in which a group of young trendy kids meet the wonder dog and nearly fall over in surprise, speaking one of the all time great lines of television in the process:

'Whoa!!! Its a talking Daaawwwg!'

Inspiring stuff.

Then, keeping the dog theme, you have the advert for dog food which forces you to think about and answer one of the great questions of our time:

'Do you want your dog to be a good pooper, or an optimum pooper?'

A good pooper, or an optimum pooper. Well, I have to admit i've never thought about that but the answer of course is that my dog must be an optimum pooper.

Seriously, how will I live without such high caliber entertainment.

American TV

I've been in the US for a few days now, and though I have done and seen some interesting things, quite a bit of my time has been spent watching television. This is mostly because Steph is working and whilst I could maybe walk to the local supermarket or a few fast food places there isn't really much to do if you don't have a car.

Still, I digress. Watching American television is I think quite unique. I don't mean the programmes themselves. We obviously get quite a lot of them in the UK and by and large they tend to be of a high quality and entertaining/interesting. What makes US TV so different is the adverts. The adverts here are... odd. I realise that in the UK we have a plethora of bizarre and usually dodgy adverts for just about everything, but the American adverts are strange in very different ways.

First of all there are adverts for prescription drugs. That there are adverts for medicine is not strange. Its more the fact that each advert must clearly state the potential hazards of each product. That in itself is a good thing - this drug might do the following to you etc and is therefore probably not a good thing! However, the way this is done still leaves my mind in a state of bafflement even having seen countless numbers of these ads.

The template seems to go like this. Introduce the drug with a 'real' person who has used said drug and the goes on to warn of the consequences to family of not using it, or of the wonderous benefits from using said product. Whilst this is going on there will be people -usually children - playing in the background, the sky is blue, the grass is green and theres a gentle summer breeze wafting through the picture. Then to top it off a gentle piano recital will kick in. All in all a very mellow scene and not that unusal for trying to sell a product.

The strange part comes about a third if the way through. The image and the music stay the same, but a voice over starts listing what seem like hundreds of potential side effects of taking the drug. So it goes 'Digitise may produce headaces, loss of hearing, loss of legs and arms, servere diarrohea, chronic heart disease, mutations such as extra hands and feet, in addition to probable death.' And the crazy thing is thats not much of an exaggeration. The feeling I get at the end is that no-one in their right mind would buy these drugs, and thus why advertise when two thirds of your advert is saying your drug will probably leave you severely afflicted.

The second advertising oddities are perhaps not so much to do with the adverts themselves but more with the sheer range of products available in America, and more specifically products which seem to serve no useful purpose at all. The one that sticks in my mind was for an American Football television package (think Sky Sports) that had the ability to display on the tv who was calling you on the phone (ie caller ID). The advert was professionally made, very slick and was extremely enthusastic about the importance of knowing who was calling you whilst watching American Football in such a way that was displayed on the tv itself. Infact it made it sound as though you couldn't live without such a feature.

Now, if the advert was for the American Football television package and the caller ID thing was just thrown in as an extra then I could understand that. But it wasn't. It was for the caller ID integrated with your tv. I can't for the life of me understand the need for such a thing. Its just.. mind boggling.

I like it though. Its the oddities that make you appreciate America all the more.