Lately I've had this vision of sitting in the rain. It normally would appear as I was lying in bed waiting for sleep to overcome. I'd get this mental picture/feeling of sitting outside while it just downpoared, sheets and sheets of rain soaking me all the way through. And I'd be smiling. Like I was just cleansed of everything.

So I was sitting around today, I noticed it started to rain. And I could hear some thunder in the background. The vision came back to me, and I thought about it for about 2 minutes. I then proceded to go outside and stand on my patio. By the time I got out there, the rain had slowed to a drizzle; a few drops here and there but nothing serious. But I waited, I stood outside under the skies and just waited, feeling the tempo of the rain rise slowly, then fade back. I felt the wind weave through the pines outside my apartment, and watch lightning strike in the distance beyond them. The thunder is what really caught my attention though - huge rolling thunder that threatened to fill my whole mind with it's vibrations, to take over my consciousness.

And then I felt it coming.

The wind picked up, throwing chills up my spine, cooling the rain that had found a home on my back already. The temperature dropped just a degree or two, and you could feel it spread in the air and through my body like electricity. Big drops of water, falling hard from the sky, started pelting my back and head. At first, only a few, then soon after, God's hydrant was at full blast.

I stood there, feeling the drops, looking at the sky - as much as one can look with big rain drops falling on your face - and just smiling.

It was wonderful.

When I first stood outside, I had wondered how long I'd be out there. By now I was wondering if I really had to go back inside at all.

Of course all good things seem to come to an end, and this was no exception. I tried to wait it out, see who would last longer - me or mother nature. But as is the case with most every battle she fights in, mother nature won easily. But I think I got the best end of the deal either way