Heaven, heaven fall down
Spirit, Spirit pour out on us all now Heaven fall down
Come Jesus come, come like the wind fill up this place we welcome You in
Come Jesus come. come like the rain
Open the sky show us Your face, oh Lord we wait
As our praises rise, may your presence fall
Heaven, heaven fall down Spirit, Spirit pour out on us all now... Heaven fall down. "
-Phil Wickham "Heaven fall Down"
I went to bed with the sound of rain and woke up this morning to the sound of the rain beating on the tin roof. As I was getting ready for school this morning, I had my music playing and this song came on. As the rain beat loudly on the roof and the music blasted from my little phone, I was reminded of God's presence and Grace in my life. "Grace like rain falls down on me..."
It's been raining hard now for about 36 hrs non-stop. The kids came in the morning telling me that they have a saying that if it doesn't rain in July and in August, then in September it will rain for 7 days straight. I don't know the climate here enough to have an opinion, but we shall see. The one nice thing about the rain is that it has cooled down the temperature considerably. It's easy for the passage of seasons to go unnoticed in a place where it is hot year round. I looked on the calendar and realized that yesterday was the first day of fall, so what a great way to start fall out with cooler temperatures.
Yesterday, the roommates and I did something I'm sure none of the locals had ever seen, we went dancing in the rain and splashing in the puddles (not the dirty ones!).
The flood waters stopped cars in the street and caused an overflow in the dirty river.
There's such an amazing feeling of freedom to stand in the rain and let it completely soak you!
The gate behind us is the first gate to get into the school
For the morning devotions, I have decided to teach the gospel story by going through the Bible. Right now we're studying Noah and the flood and I felt like it was so aptly timed as there has been much flooding here in Ibadan. I've been reminded about how absolutely crazy it must have looked to Noah's friends and relatives for him to trust so completely in God, that even though he had no evidence of a flood, he still obeyed and did what God had asked.
I feel like Noah in many ways. Why am I here in Nigeria? Out of OBEDIENCE to God.
Like Noah, from an outside perspective it didn't make sense for me to leave family and friends and go to a foreign country. To go to a country that's in political turmoil, to a place that smells, where I don't have all the comforts of home. To go to a place that isn't as safe as good old G-Vegas. But God has called me, and where he calls me, I will follow.
God has placed me in a classroom where about 1/3 of the kids are Muslim, 1/3 Hindu, and 1/3 Christian. I have so many opportunities to speak Life in their lives, but at the same time, it's not easy. Just the other day as I was praying, I heard one of the (Hindu)kids talking. I looked up for a second, and realized he wasn't talking to anyone, he was praying in another language, loud enough to drown out my words. I nearly started crying in the middle of my prayer, but I knew, THIS is why God has me here.
"Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants."
-Duet. 32:2
"Lord, my prayer is that you would help me to speak Your truth to the children that I teach. I pray that my teachings would be nourishing; that they would be like the gentle rains that water the young plants. I pray that my words would cause these kids to grow to to know you. Savior I love you and I trust that You have a perfect plan for my life!"
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