God's little weather test area

Oh look, it's raining, no, wait, it's snowing...no...rain...no, sleeting. Wait five more minutes, it will change.
I am amazed at the weather here. We literally had one day last week when we had snow, rain, bright sunshine, sleet and a little hail all within the space of less than an hour. It's like our Creator was trying out some new combinations just to see how we would react. From our vantage point, up on the side of the hill in Rümmingen, we can see the weather coming up the valley from France and Switzerland. It may be pouring rain, but you can see the sun coming right behind it. Yesterday, I took a walk with my son...he needed to get out (kind of like a puppy needs to be taken out for a run around the park, ya know?) and I wanted some fresh air. Well, the air was certainly fresh when we started out...blue skys with some clouds flying through...but once we reached the bottom of the hill and were heading up the sidewalk it had started to rain. Not just a little 'drip-drop' here or there, but driving, in-your-face, I'm-going-to-soak-you rain. Granted, we were prepared for the weather, I had on my foul-weather pants (thank you, Pop!) and my two-layer coat, PV V2.0 was in his snow-bibs (for outside messing about) and his hooded parka. We stayed dry, except for our faces. But through the rain, I could look up the road to Binzen and see sun shining and bluer skies following. A few more minutes of trudging (yes, trudging, you know: "To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on"*...ok, so we have a lot more going for us than Chaucer, but the quote is great!) anyhoo, more trudging and, behold, the rain stops, it actually warms up, we can unzip our parkas and are feeling quite warm by the time we return up the hill to Casa Vosteen. Through the whole trek, my son did not complain, did not whine, did not fuss about "I'm getting wet, can I go home?"
I am seeing that our walk with the Father is pretty much the same. We start out our journey in pretty good weather, then the rains come, the storms rage, and we may be tempted to turn back. But if we "soldier on", keeping our eyes on Him we will come through that valley and see the sun shining ahead. The great thing about this is, Jesus does not change like the weather. He never altered His path, once He started down it....and when I think about what my life would have been like if He had said "gee, this is just too hard, I think I'll change my path"...well, let's just say that I'm pretty darn happy to be where I am and doing what I am doing and when it gets difficult, I'll keep on keeping on...
oh, look, it's a beeeeeeeutiful day (now).

*Geoffrey Chaucer, from "A Knight's Tale" 2001 Colubia Pictures