The Rainbow

Twice now in a dark situation God gave me the sign of a rainbow to remind me of His covenant and the hope there is in each situation. The most recent time this happened was when I was visiting an island in the Caribbean. It seemed to be such a dark place. There were many people hustling others for money. There were many beggars and peddlers. The taxi drivers would fight over a fare in front of the customers. It was quite unsettling.

After the big fight of the taxi drivers for our return fare to the ship from the beach, the winner took us on a ride back. He was a nice man (at least toward us). He liked country music and reggae. He asked which I preferred and I had to say very quickly reggae! I am no fan of country music (and no that is not a requirement for living in Tennessee!). While in the taxi he was playing Bob Marley. There is a song on the CD that says, "everyone wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to die. " So the conversation came up and the taxi driver says, "yeah mon, everyone wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to die." So I chime in and say, "The funny thing about that is that you have to die to go to Heaven. Oh yeah and there is only one way to Heaven and that is through Jesus. He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life and no one gets there except through Him. All you have to do is believe He came and died for your sins and was raised from the dead. But many choose not to believe it. Many choose to live there own way and not for Him but that is their choice and it is very sad."

Now I have never (well maybe not never but rarely) been that bold in my life. Definitely a work of the Spirit. His response was sweet but I was not sure if he really agreed. He said, "Yeah, mon. Jesus. Yeah mon."

When we got back on the boat and were leaving that place I looked at the island and it was overshadowed with a darkness. A storm was coming in. I told the Lord that that was such a true representation of what I saw on that island. But I was so burdened and asked God if there was any hope for them. That is when He gave me the most beautiful rainbow I have every seen. Now this was no ordinary rainbow. The picture I used is not what I saw. I had no camera to catch the moment but everyone around me was astonished at this rainbow. We could see the end of it and it was connected to the island on one side but the other came out into the water. This rainbow moved until the end of it stopped directly in front of me. I am not kidding. If I could have moved 10 more feet forward I could have touched it. It was such a breath taking site. Then, in that moment, I felt God speak to me that there was still hope. That the praying He had me doing on that island was not in vain and He was with those people.

You see the rainbow was given as a sign, a covenant of God's promise not to destroy the earth again with water to Noah and his family after the flood. That sign still stands for God's promise of covenant. Later on in time God's covenant meant more. Part of that was that He would never forsake His people. So whenever He shows me a rainbow it reminds me of covenant with God. It reminds me of His great mercy and grace. It is a beautiful sign of His promise.