"The Sooners walked, the Longhorns ?"
OK, So it wasn't raining at the Cotton Bowl yesterday, but the Sooners walked tall. The Longhorn fans walked too - away from the Red River Massacre to the corn dog stands at the Texas State Fair. With one notable, beautiful exception, I love seeing Longhorn fans in dismay. Sometimes it makes me think there is some actual value to football. And we all get to see it again next week when the other Oklahoma team (who are they again?) goes to Austin and gnaws on the carcass. Hey, maybe I could go sell corn dogs in the parking lot.
It didn't rain at the Cotton Bowl, but it rained and rained and rained here - and more is on the way. As for me, I solemnly swear that I will never again bitch about rain. We got exactly what we needed in a soaking, steady rain that lasted for hours. And it was widespread enough such that some parts of the world that have really been suffering from the drought got some real relief.
Sometimes rain is associated with depression. What could describe depression more accurately than the 186th consecutive rainy, gloomy, dreary day? Sometimes rain is associated with total destruction and devastation like Noah's flood. Rain also represents cleansing, providence, the end of hopelessness or the lifting of a siege, unity (rain falls on the just and unjust alike), difficulty (everything is harder to do in the rain) or something to look forward to (the latter rain). In literature and thought, rain represents lots of different things.
Contrast that to a rainbow, which always represents hope and promise fulfilled. Sunshine always represents happiness, life, clarity, etc. The starry sky always represents grandeur, mystery, vast expanse of things left to be discovered and known. Rain represents lots of conflicting emotions and circumstances.
Did I mention that the Sooners only needed the defense to beat the Longhorns yesterday? The three defensive touchdowns were enough to compensate for UT's offensive endeavors. OU would have won 21-17 without any offensive success at all. But we're talking about rain not football.
Clearly, our impressions of rain depend on our perspective. In Christianity, rain represents the presence and anointing of God in our lives, not conceptually or historically, but right here, right now. And yet there is so much resistance to God in our culture, just like some don't like the rain.
I can write books on the benefits God offers. It is easy for me to see the perspective that every Oklahoman feels today about rain. But I don't get the benefits of living life without God any more than I see a benefit to living life without rain. Believing in God is a choice with benefits. Not believing in God is ... what? ... a choice without benefits?