I was driving towards my Bible study group meeting last night and the view in front of me was similar to this photo.   Except for the mountains.  And all the green.  And the scenic winding road.  My scene was a four-lane highway, random buildings, and flat.  Lots and lots of flatness.

So really the rainbow is the only similarity.

I am always, always amazed at rainbows.  What an incredible result of the sun shining through droplets of water in the atmosphere.   How some people think this happens by chance is beyond me.  God’s handiwork is everywhere.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. -Romans 1:20

The rainbow I saw was a complete rainbow and it felt like I was going to drive straight through, almost as if under its protection – the protection of God’s promises.

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. -Genesis 9:15-16

His sun, shining through the rain and the storm, to illuminate the sign of His promise to us.  His Son.  It always reminds that He is so faithful to me, even when I am perpetually not.  It reminds me that His promises will never fail.  It reminds that He is there on the stormy days to provide not only a light to show me the way, but an incredible manifestation of that light that only God could make.

Rainbows always bring me joy.

I have a distinct memory about a rainbow from high school, I believe.  I was at a gas station in a larger town near my home when someone pointed out to me the amazing double rainbow.  I passed on the word to someone else.  I noticed everyone at this large gas station/convenience was talking excitedly, with joy, about the amazing rainbow above us.

Then we all got in our cars and drove away.

For a moment, however, we shared the joy of colorful miracle of light on a stormy day, in awe at the work of God’s hands.  What a fraction of that ultimate joy we will have when we see Him again, with lights more amazing than rainbows even.  I, again, look forward to sharing that joy with others.

¹²I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,¹³and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,”^[b]dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. – Revelation 1:12-18

God Stuff, God of My Story