Random is Beauty

It never rains in southern California. Apparently we’re in a cloudless bubble apart from the rest of the world. Something like LOST island. It’s become commonplace that I wake up each morning and never for a second wonder if I should grab an umbrella before heading out the door, or a raincoat, or goulashes. Do people still wear goulashes? What are goulashes?

So on those super rare days when the smoke monster runs rampant it does rain, I’m thrust into an unexpected panic, and everything crumbles from my neatly orchestrated schedule.

But…but…I was supposed to go for a run today! I was going to journal at the park for hours! I was gonna lay on the grass and stare at the ever-cloudless sky, hoping to witness the Lord’s return from the best vantage point imaginable.

It’s not that I hate rain or thunderstorms. Far from it; I love rain. But I enjoy rain less when my mindset and lifestyle has become thoroughly acclimated to its complete absence.

Side tangent, but funny that I would someday love to live in Seattle, otherwise known as RAINSEVERYDAYLAND.

So my usual routine was dashed when it rained last week, and it rained for a really long time. It was dark in the morning and still dark in the afternoon, and I thought our poor apartment complex’s little pool would start overflowing. Good thing my apartment’s on the second level; good luck, all you ground-dwelling firsties.

But then, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen appeared above my complex.

DOUBLE RAINBOW. ALL THE WAY.

I’ve seen many rainbows throughout my life. I’ve also enjoyed countless phenomenal meals, but can only remember a handful. I only remember two rainbows. This one from last week, along with another massive beauty that materialized just before a Phillies game two years ago. One end of the rainbow ascended from Citizens Bank Park and the other descended into Lincoln Financial Field.

It was phantastically magical, and I thought it surely forecasted a Phillies victory that night. Instead, they got pummeled by the lowly Astros.

The cutesy Christian tie-in to rainbows is that God is faithful through the fiercest, most devastating storms, be it the Noahic flood or divorce or death or Keeping Up with the Kardashians marathons.

Yeah, God is indeed faithful through all disaster. Not to take away from that truth, but that’s not what this post is about.

As I observed this magnificent sky sighting, I wasn’t concocting a Sunday School explanation for rainbows. I was simply thinking, Wow, that’s so randomly beautiful.

Sure, there’s a scientific explanation for rainbows, but I marvel at the Artist who invented science, bringing a world “dark and void” to order, and spoke such an amazing absurd idea like a rainbow into existence.

I mean, think about it. Really think about it: AN ARCH OF RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, AND VIOLET (NO INDIGO) STRETCHING ACROSS THE SKY?

That’s so random. As random as turtles having shells atop their bodies, fog creeping down the side of a mountain, a MOON constantly spinning around us, and countless other phenomena.

RANDOM, all of it, and beautiful.

If the sky were already full of colors not named indigo, adding another bow of colors to the array would be no big deal. But it’s those random rainbows breaking the darkness that remind me life is beautiful.

And we haven’t even seen a drop of the Artist’s beauty yet.