rainbow

Driving through a rainbow

Posted on August 19, 2018 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

We had a marvelous church service this afternoon. We meet at 3:00 to 4:30, talk a while after, then head to small groups at various locations. We have 4 elders. The main teaching elder is Mark, and the other three men rotate doing a confessional/devotional before the sermon. Our order of service goes like this:

Opening prayer by Mark
Two hymns, stand, all sing
Confessional, where one of the elders speaks briefly, asks us questions, to which we respond in our pews silently by confessing our sins before God and praying. This helps prepare our hearts to hear the word.
Song. We remain sitting and can either sing along with the musicians on stage or continue praying/confessing silently.
Sermon.
Two more hymns.
Prayer and dismissal

Anyway we are going through the book of John and we’re all loving it. Afterward I was headed home and one of those summer rain showers came along. The pavement was dry and then sprinkles dotted the windshield then rain-soaker with wipers on high then dry again. Repeat. Ahead I saw the largest rainbow arcing across the road starting at the ground and making a bow from left to right. It stayed for the longest time. I thought of the verses in Genesis 9:12-16-

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

As I approached the next rainshower I noticed that the colors on the left side of the rainbow, the side closest to me, could be ween slicing down among the trees, and even to the ground! I have never see the spot where the rainbow touches down, but tonight I did. I looked and looked and then since the road curved, soon I drove right through it.

It felt cool to be driving physically <i>through</i> the colors of the rainbow. I enjoyed pondering God in His work of Creator, and His work of mercy in sending His Son in order to spare us His wrath, and His work of faithfulness to His promises. The LORD is magnificent and good.

Let the Redeemed of the LORD Say So

1Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom he has redeemed from troublea
3and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

4Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
5hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
8Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
9For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Psalm 107:1-9

rainbow to ground — Look at the left and follow the rainbow down to the ground

color, jesus, rainbow

Tourist captures spectacular ‘fire rainbow cloud’ phenomenon on camera

Posted on November 5, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

A few days ago I posted about physicists who believe they have discovered a parallel universe bumping into ours. I’d written about what the Bible says about heaven, wondered where heaven is, and how much different the laws of physics might be within it. Mostly, I wondered if God’s heaven is immediately next to us, not just parallel, but in amongst us, just invisible due to being in another dimension.

Today a friend sent me a neat story from the Caribbean. “Tourist captures spectacular ‘fire rainbow cloud’ phenomenon on camera“. The story isn’t being put forward as a spectacular sign from God or anything like that. The sub-hed to the headline states, “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for the stunning sky display.“

There are two interesting things to me about the story. First, the rainbow-cloud phenomenon photographed there is pretty. I like pretty.

Telegraph UK

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Telegraph UK

The meteorological explanation for the rainbow cloud is pretty simple. As it’s stated in the Telegraph article,

“In clouds, iridescence is a by-product of sunlight being diffracted by water droplets or ice crystals, causing the various wavelengths of light, which we see as colours, to emerge at different angles,” he said.

“As they reach the observer’s eye, the observer perceives a pattern of various colours as those different wavelengths reach his or her eye from distinct directions, rather than being jumbled together and appearing whitish.”

The second thing I thought of when I saw this photo and read the explanation for its appearance, is that the colors are there all along. It’s the angle which makes the difference. It is all about the light- when and at which angle it penetrates the wavelength.

It’s like the kingdom of God. It is there all along, we just can’t see it until the Light penetrates our eyes at a different angle. This is true in a twofold way. The first way the Light penetrates us is by faith, when faith comes. Paul experienced that on the road to Damascus in a vivid and physical way. The Light appeared and he was struck blind for three days, as Jesus spoke to him directly. Then the scales fell from Paul’s eyes and he could see. For the rest of us, faith comes in a metaphorically similar way- the scales fall from our eyes when we repent, and we can “see” Jesus, spiritually.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

The second way the Light comes and illuminates what is already there is when we die, or when we are raptured alive to see Jesus in the future. We will finally be able to physically see by sight what was there all along, the parallel universe which is God’s heaven. We will see Jesus, we will see the New Jerusalem, we will see the amazing creatures who have six wings and wheels within wheels, we will be able to see all of it. It already exists, of course, it is present in real form. We just can’t see it, like we usually cannot see all the colors of the spectrum in a white cloud.

But when the angle changes and suddenly we’re surrounded by iridescent Light, spectacular beauty and color, hallelujah!

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2)

Set your eyes on things above, too! You never know, while you’re privileged to see a rare rainbow cloud, you just might also see Jesus returning to gather His loved ones!

covenant, rainbow

The rainbow in my avatar

Posted on September 30, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Some people have asked about my avatar on Google Plus. Here it is.

Every month, blogger and book reviewer Tim Challies posts free wallpapers for Christians. One month several years ago this was one of the choices. I downloaded it and decided to use it as my avatar.

I wanted the cross in my avatar. In this scene, I liked the colorful aspect of it. Often times avatars with crosses are drab. The rainbow reminded me of the covenant in Genesis 9:8-17.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

God spent a great deal of time explaining the covenant and the rainbow. It’s important.

But now comes Jesus Christ, “High Priest of a Better Covenant” (Hebrews 8).

There is another scene with a rainbow that I enjoy thinking of. Revelation 2:4-6,

and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

It is a powerful, powerful scene.

The rainbow in the avatar also reminds me of life. The life blood coming from Jesus and how He brought life to all flesh, if they repent and believe. It also reminds me that Jesus is alive, He is a living God.

The rainbow has nothing to do with the homosexual emblem. Don’t think culturally, think biblically. Don’t be afraid to take back and boldly use, or ‘proudly’ declare, the things of God as the things of God. The gay lobby can drive the cultural narrative all they want, but they cannot have the rainbow. That was given to believers by God and the gay lobby cannot have it.

So that is the story of the avatar. I’m astounded that over 12 million people have looked at my profile on Google plus. If several have asked then no doubt others have also wondered. Here is the answer. 🙂