Dear friends,
I have been enjoying reading John Piper’s book “A Godward Life – Book Two” and was amazed to read the chapter entitled “The Great Work of God: Rain.” When I was in elementary school, one assignment was to keep track of the different types of clouds in the sky for a month. That task inspired me to be interested in star gazing. When I read Dr. Piper’s description of what is involved in the formation of rain, I was “blown away” by the intricacy of God’s handiwork.
Dr. Piper writes about the scenario where a farmer in the Near East depends upon rain that originates in the Mediterranean Sea: “Water will have to be carried … over several hundred miles, and then be poured out on the fields from the sky. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.” And to think that I struggle to carry an eighteen-liter jug up a few stairs!
Have you ever thought about how the rain drops form? Dr. Piper continues: “Well, it gets up there by evaporation … the water stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What’s that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That’s small.”
Did you ever consider how the salt in the oceans affects the process of condensation? Dr. Piper explains: “Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea, takes out the salt, carries the water (or whatever it is, when it is not water) for three hundred miles, and then dumps it (now turned into water again) on the farm. Well, it doesn’t dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds of water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small
enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.”
Dr. Piper goes on to explain how the microscopic specks of water get heavy enough to fall: “… it’s called coalescence. What’s that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger, and when they get big enough, they fall.” There is more to the story, involving an electric field, but I’m sure you’ll agree that we live and breathe because the God of wonders (whom some call “Mother Nature”) is in control of His creation!
Our missionary friends in the Republic of Congo – Dr. Joseph Harvey and Rebecca Harvey, along with their son, Noah – are getting ready to return to the United States, as Dr. Joe has suffered a relapse of Multiple Sclerosis. Please pray for the restoration of his health, for the Lord’s leading, and for those who are serving at the Pioneer Christian Hospital in Impfondo – http://www.congoharveys.org – as well as Radio Sango Kitoko and Kimia Care Center.
Scripture for the weekend: “But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God; who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields.” Job 5:8-10 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “Practical man says ‘Seeing is believing!’ But the man of faith replies, ‘Believing is seeing!’” – Warren W. Wiersbe (from his book “Be Confident”)
By His grace,
Steve