Scattered Showers

The weather forecast for today was partly cloudy with scattered showers throughout our area. The scattered showers must have been somewhere else most of the day because we hadn't seen any rain so far. So about 1PM I decide to take a motorcycle ride through the country side. The weather was perfect... partly sunny and in the mid 70's. My ride was fantastic, no wind, mostly sunny, just perfect until... the scattered showers hit me. I was about 45 minutes from home when I felt the first drop of rain. The sun was still shining but in the distance I could see the darker clouds coming. I decided to take a detour on my ride and I thought I might be able to avoid this scattered shower. I did really well, I got into a very light rain that quickly went away after only 2 minutes. I wasn't wet at all. As I was making my way back home I saw another dark cloud in the distance. I could see that it was raining by the way the clouds streaked towards the ground. This one looked a lot worse than the last shower so I made another detour and tried to avoid this shower. Again I did well. It rained on me for about 5 minutes and very lightly. Not bad at all! By now I'm only 15 miles from home. Looks like I'm going to make it home without getting wet. 5 miles from the house I encounter a down pour like none other. One moment I'm in the sun, the very next I'm soaked! I drive the 5 miles in a downpour and arrive at home just as the rain stopped and the sun come out again. Of course when I walked in the house my family thought it funny to ask me if I had an enjoyable ride as I stood there dripping wet. (actually it was a great ride, it was just the last 5 minutes that was bad)

What makes me think is this... Today's ride was fun, it was a great time of relaxation and the country side was beautiful to look at as I rode the back roads of Tennessee. Taking the detours took me on roads I'd never been on before and it was wonderful to explore new roads in this way. I thought, "Wouldn't it be a shame to allow the last five minutes of my ride to ruin the whole experience?"

Have you ever let the negative things that happen to you take your focus off of the good or positive things that happen? Have you ever had a great day at work, or a great day off work, or a wonderful Sunday afternoon, but then a single phone call can change the whole outlook on the day?

I saw a sign today outside of a small country church on one of my detours to avoid the rain showers. The sign read, " Weather Forecast... The Son is always shining!" As I read that sign it made me smile as here I was trying to avoid the rain, but even when the rain got me, I was still able to smile because I was reminded that even when the weather is bad, "The Son is always shining."

Lord, help me to always see past the current rain clouds and bad circumstances in each day. May I never forget that you are always shining upon me. Also thanks for the quiet reminder that life contains both dark clouds and clear sky's and even so; thank you that everyday contains... "Son Shine."