Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. ~ Genesis 9:16
Saturday, September 16 was the third annual Day at the Docks. It is a tradition that was initiated one year after Hurricane Isabel devastated our community. It symbolized the strength of our community and celebrated the progress we had made toward recovery in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, I had to be in Greenville meeting with one of my grad school professors to discuss my final project. So, I missed it. The second year we had evacuated for Hurricane Ophelia and ended up staying a few extra days with our friends in Smithfield. We DID make it home for the Blessing of the Fleet however. All the boats who choose to participate travel together and dock at one of the local marinas (as you can see in this photo taken from our boat last year...Girlfriend is one of the kids sitting on the bridge of the boat behind us). Being part of the procession is absolutely amazing...all those boats lined up is just awesome. A short, but meaningful, ceremony is held to honor the local fishermen as well as remember those who have passed. In addtion to being a spiritual activity, it is quite a social event for us. (And that's all I'm going to say as far as that goes.) This year we were here for the entire day and boy did we have a blast (again, enough said). The food was delicious (chowder, grilled tuna, shrimp skewers, YUM!!) and the booths and demos were super. The kids fishing contest was stressful, but fun....we had about 6 kids to handle between a few adults. Our crowd didn't win anything, but we were happy with the fact that none of us were hooked. I even baited hooks!!!! The Blessing was as touching as it had been the year before....but the absolute best part was the ride back to our marina. For me it was nothing less than a sign from God. The sky was gray and cloudy. The air was moist and salty. The sun was gorgeous as its flaming glow fell into the briny liquid. Before completely sinking away and casting us into darkness for the evening, a bright rainbow boldly appeared in the sky. For some a coincidence. For me a confirmation.
4 comments:
I remember the afternoon that the twin towers fells that we had a thunder storm and all of us were nervous and not quite sure what was to come next, thank God nothing else happened, and as the sun broke through I went on the porch to look for a rainbow and it was there just perfect and bright and beautiful. We had rain through the night and the next morning I was on the front porch and there again was the perfect rainbow, it was God letting us know that He would never leave us or forsake us. We were safe in his protection. The other sighting that is so vivid with me is the Sunday before Isabel, that evening we had a double rainbow and they stayed for a long time and got brighter as time went by. Isabel kicked us good, but through the hearts that God touch, from family, friends, and strangers we were all able to put our lives back together. The Bette Midler song, From a Distance, God is watching us and watching over us. God Bless you and yours I love ya!! R.A.
love you, too!!!
K,
I was in San Diego playing on the beach with my son--his first visit to a beach of any kind--and there were some rather ominous looking clouds on the horizon. But piercing the clouds were the twin bases to a giant rainbow. I'll be honest when I say that I didn't feel the immediate spiritual sense you and "R.A." felt, but it was a neat phenomenon and made me appreciate the beauty of our little bitty world.
Does this mean I still get an "I love ya'" like R.A?
GP
Sure...I'll give you a "luv ya!"...just like the one I gave my sis-in-law. :0)
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