When the Monsoon Breaks Through

The soaring temperatures of summer present challenges for workers in many least-reached communities. Below, a Christar worker in South Asia shares about the simple blessing of rain.

Climactically speaking, this season is rough. The humidity spikes higher and higher like trekkers slowly ascending a range of mountains—up, up and away! Our lungs stumble over such stifling thickness and the air radiates heat like a sauna sans the musty cedar smell. The “feels-like” heat index puts us above 140 degrees for days on end. The mugginess doesn’t mind the walls and windows—it is just as warm inside as outside. There is no escape from the all-surrounding embrace of wet, heavy heat.

A longing for relief

Then one day, usually near the end of June, we smell something in the air. The skies above churn murkily about our heads, and a swirl of heaviness begins to build. Those first clouds are dark, threatening and glorious. The sweat on our brow smiles at them and says, “RAIN! Rain down! Soak us! Come now and cool us!” Tension mounts in the air, the anticipation of relief.

Many times we are left dry and disappointed. Those black clouds dissipate. The wind fails. The moment of reprieve passes and the pressure remains. Frustration ensues with sweat to boot. We mop our brows and sigh, “Oh, that the rains might come!” Millions throughout our city join us in the plea, “Let it rain!” Everyone watches the horizon.

The goodness of our Creator

And then it comes. A thunderous crack in the sky, a rip in the fabric of the universe! The heavens open up with drops—with buckets of cool, crisp water spilling over every house and tree and flower and leaf. We hear, smell and see nothing but rain, rain, rain! The roar of the monsoon exhilarates. The heat is shattered, the air clean and fresh. For a few hours at least, all is calm and cool and full of peace. Nothing escapes the monsoon’s torrential downpour.

The release is universal. The laughter of a hundred thousand children fill our ears and we are quickly soaked to the bone. Young and old alike welcome the water. The poor and posh of every caste, the women and men of every sector all thirst for relief. The software engineer and brick mason, the slum dweller and high-riser all greet with thanksgiving those first drops of monsoon madness.

And so we welcome the season, and the rain that it brings. We praise the God of rain! We thank Him, the giver of all good gifts, for causing the rain to fall on all the peoples of the world. The Creator be praised for the grace of rain!!

Participate by Praying:

• Pray for grace and strength for workers in the midst of dry seasons of ministry.