I love the rain.  I love the sound of the rain.

When we built this house ten years ago, I faced the covered back porch to the East. When  I let the dogs out this morning, I sat out there in a rocking lawn chair and watched the rain pour down.  The ground was so dry that there wasn't any run off although it had rained for hours.  Even though there was a lot of lightening and rolling thunder, it was very peaceful.

It reminded me of the time when I went to Hawaii to meet Ken--when he had R&R from Vietnam.  When the week was over, the three children and I were flying home  and the plane  got caught in a horrible thunder storm.  The pilot would gain some altitude and then the bottom of the air pocket would fall out and the plane would plunge.  We were literally tossed around in the sky.   Lightening hit the wings of the plane.  I was scared.  So I did what I do when I am troubled, I sang a hymn to my kids.  It's a really old one; you may remember it:

"I've seen the lightening flashing, I've heard the thunder roll.

I've felt sins breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul..."

I don't know if it made my children any calmer, but it calmed me.  I had never had them on a plane before, but I wanted them to see their dad before he went back to Vietnam for six more months of combat.

The old hymns are such a comfort to me.  On nights like last night when I can't sleep, I sing to myself.  I'm glad I memorized them.  They are in my head when I need them.

Psalms 32:7 "You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall compass me about with songs of deliverance…"

Psalms 95: 1 "O come, let us sing to the Lord:  let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation."