{"id":31221,"date":"2020-02-05T21:35:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T03:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=31221"},"modified":"2020-02-05T21:35:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T03:35:33","slug":"the-pounding-rain-from-the-storm-brought-me-warmth-light-and-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/?p=31221","title":{"rendered":"The pounding rain from the storm brought me warmth, light and love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I stretched out my arms, as though I was welcoming the raindrops which were pounding on my body like tiny notes of a powerful symphony.<\/p>\n

If anybody was watching, he might have thought I was crazy, but I didn\u2019t care. I felt an exhilarating connection with Nature in that moment. I welcomed the rain. I welcomed the energy in the storm. And in that brief moment of touching God, I felt love and warmth and goodness.<\/p>\n

I had eaten at a restaurant inside a store Wednesday evening. When it was time for me to leave, a driving rainstorm had started outside. There was hardly anybody left in the store. Everyone else seemed to have headed home in anticipation of the storm. As I walked slowly into the rain, I felt as though I was alone on Nature\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n

My heart swelled with warmth and love. Suddenly, without any intention or forethought, I was joyfully speaking words of love to someone who was not there to hear my words.<\/p>\n

I felt like a joyful child as I made that long walk to my car. I didn’t hurry, because I didn’t want this moment to end. It felt special and holy, more like worship than most church services I’ve attended.<\/p>\n

I felt as though something in my spirit transcended my body for that minute or two. I didn’t care that I was getting soaked. I felt as though my spirit stretched out to become something monumentally huge — stretching miles to merge with this powerful storm — and for just a moment, I knew once again what it felt like to know the majesty of God.<\/p>\n

This wasn’t a rational thought. It wasn’t just an emotion. It was purely an experience of knowing that I was connected to something far bigger than myself.<\/p>\n

And in the ecstasy of this experience, I kept returning to an expression of love. I have no idea why. I just needed to express in words something which was overflowing like waves and waves of liquid love pouring out of my soul.<\/p>\n

I experienced it as warmth and light and colors. It was abstract, but the colors were full of intense blue and golden light and a pale pink, along with hints of crimson in the accents. I felt the colors and the light — and they were alive. If I had been able to hold onto this powerful experience for long enough, there was someone who would have emerged in the flesh.<\/p>\n

In that moment, I knew without any question that love comes from somewhere other than my wants or needs or hopes or lusts or any such thing. Real love comes from somewhere else — if it comes at all — and we ignore that love at our spirit’s peril.<\/p>\n

Love is not our choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

I can’t fully explain what I experienced. I made some photos once I got to the car to try to capture the spirit of what had happened, but I couldn’t find an image powerful enough. I’ve included a couple of those here.<\/p>\n

All I know is that I had a beautiful and powerful experience of God. I have no idea why. I didn’t see it coming. I couldn’t recreate it if I tried.<\/p>\n

He was in the wind and the rain and the light and the colors.<\/p>\n

And even the briefest of brushes with this all-powerful Creator leaves no doubt where genuine love always comes from.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stretched out my arms, as though I was welcoming the raindrops which were pounding on my body like tiny notes of a powerful symphony. If anybody was watching, he might have thought I was crazy, but I didn\u2019t care. I felt an exhilarating connection with Nature in that moment. I welcomed the rain. I Keep Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1x9iR-87z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31221"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31227,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31221\/revisions\/31227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidmcelroy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}