Rain, Rain, Glorious Rain!

Thanks be to God for the rain!

I just wanted to publicly thank God for the rain he blessed us with on Thursday and Friday. I "recorded" 1.7 inches of rain at my house in Peachtree City and according to my unofficial records, this is the largest two-day total here since August.

I thought I'd share some passages from Scripture about rain:

LEVITICUS 26:3-4 "If you will follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit."

2 CHRONICLES 7:13-14 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locust to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if My people. who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn form their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

MATTHEW 5:44-45 "But I tell you: Love you enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous."

My thoughts include that I should be careful not to think that God made it rain because I was righteous, but I also know that he wants me to be obedient, humble, and repentant and to love my enemies and to pray for those who persecute me. I think it's a great idea to pray for rain, too. I do not know if that will end the drought, since God is sovereign, but it couldn't hurt to do the will of the Father! Amen.

Hurry, Men, Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!

Okay, guys, here it is the day before Valentine's Day and time to do something (anything?) to remember your sweetheart!

At a minimum, make sure you give your wife (Single men read: girlfriend) a card. If you want to show her an extra, special touch, make her a card.

When it come's to giving a gift, here's some things to avoid: A vacuum cleaner, toaster oven, or waffle iron. In short, generally avoid most things that plug in or require her to do any kind of house work. Even if she begs you for a hair dryer, electric curlers, or a food processor, there are probably better choices.

I went to my resident expert, Jane, and asked her for a list of suggetions. I'm pretty sure we should trust her on this. Here's her list:

• Candy
• Flowers (RED says LOVE)
• Jewelry (Jane says this is "always a winner," but see my comments below.)
• A Gift Certificate to a SPA.

When deciding how much to spend on a gift, neither the husband nor the wife should should be to eager to bust the family budget out of generosity or out of unreasonable expectations. I personally dislike advertisements that use a tag like "I deserve it" or "I'm worth it."

So, here's the bottom line: Definitely do something for your sweetie for Valentine's Day, but also have the wisdom to show restraint.