Guyana's weather is roughly divided into four seasons. We have two dry seasons, and two rainy seasons. Right now we're in the midst of the "latter rains" of December and January.
Last Wednesday when we arrived in Shea Village the rain water tanks were filthy, and the pipes connected to the health clinic gutters were broken and disconnected. It hadn't rained in months and the wells were beginning to dry up. I tried asking some of the villagers if it had rained recently, but the best answer I could get was, "Not really".
Hmmm. What to do?
I decided to take a hours to fix the water tanks in hope that it might rain. When I drained the scum water out of the back tank, a dead frog came out! Yuck! This called for more than a swab job. Crawling into each tank I vigorously scrubbed them out with bleach water. I then scrubbed down the gutters, and finally finished by fixing the pipes and setting everything back up. What a job! I thought it would only take a couple hours, but it ended up taking almost a day and a half to complete.
When I finished the last tank on Friday afternoon I felt a certain satisfaction knowing that if it rained we would be ready to collect all the rain water, and that it wouldn't make us sick. Around midnight that night, while we were sleeping, without warning the sky opened up and dumped on us for about an hour solid, giving us almost 1000 gallons of fresh rain water. If you've ever heard the sound of heavy rain on zinc, you know that it is absolutely deafening. It was like music to my ears!
As we were lying in bed listening to rain drops thundering on zinc, the Lord spoke quietly to my mind about the Latter Rain.
Just before Jesus returns to this earth, God is going to send a spiritual rain shower to drench this earth (Joel 2:28,29). Only those who have been cleansed from sin, emptied of self, connected to the word, and standing upright, will be able to receive the Holy Spirit when it is poured out.
Now (in this apparently dry season) is the time to search our souls and to make a special preparation. If we wait for the rains it will be too late.
I invite you today to consider this little object lesson and to join us in praying that God would prepare each of us for that time.
James
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