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Sarah and I have the distinct honor of welcoming in the rainy season
here in Albania. Extended periods of drought are always broken once
we touch down at the airport. Like tribes from Africa, during
the parching heat, the crowds await our arrival. For years I thought
our welcoming party was just for the two of us. Not so!
There is so much difference in precipitation. Here, the mountains
all around help to spread the surprise. The rain sneaks over the
rims like a horizontal Peeping Tom. Moisture here usually dribbles
from heaven with the force of an army of ants. Sometimes the skies
talk. At home a prairie storm lights the ribbon where sky rubs off
the land, no sneaking around here. In the summer those big white
bottoms of storm clouds dance their cotton closer by the minute. You
know God has something up his sleeve. They are like the bellies of
giant bullfrogs whose pasty aprons echo the duet of lightning and
thunder.
The sound of a new language makes a difference. I like the
Albanian words they use during the wet season! Rain is "shee"
(phonetic of course), thunder is "boobaleem" (say it over and over)
and my favorite is "vetateem" (lightning). I appreciate that good
old "vee" sound like a sharp axe splitting through dry wood.
Hearing those sounds of course makes a difference as well. How well
do you listen? How well did you listen? Like God's word says, "Faith
comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God" Romans 10:17. |
