|
When I went out to the curb to my mailbox this afternoon, my
neighbors were doing the same thing. When they checked for their
mail they walked over to me and wanted to talk about the
drought we were having.?
I told
them it was too hot to stand out here in the sun, to come up
to the porch and we would sit down at the table and we could
talk there.
So
Sergio, Wayne and Jos?© walked up on the porch with me and we
sat down. We may have been in the shade but it was still hot
and humid. It had been six weeks since we had seen any rain.
Sergio
said since the city had banned all outside watering all of
his flowers in his flower beds had died. He wanted to know
how Johnnie was keeping the flowers in the big pots on the
porch alive?
I told
him she had stopped taking showers and started taking tub
baths. When she was through with her bath, instead of
letting the water go down the drain, she got a bucket and
carried it out here and poured it on her flowers in the
pots.
Wayne
said that his grass was turning brown just like it was
wintertime already. He was afraid he was going to lose his
lawn.
Jose??™
told us he had already lost the sweet gum tree in his front
yard, but he didn??™t know if it was because of the drought or
something else.
???The
pecan trees in my back yard are in trouble??? I said,
???The
leaves have already started turning yellow and some are
falling off.???
We all
sat there in silence, thinking about our problems when
Sergio suggested we pray for rain. He told us they had been
doing that at his church.? We all thought that was a good
idea so we stood up and held hands and Sergio led us in
prayer.? We all agreed we would meet on my porch each
afternoon and pray for rain until we got rain.
After
three days Jos?© said we needed to get our wives involved in
this praying. Wayne said it couldn??™t hurt so the next day
there were eight of us holding hands while Sergio lead us in
prayer for rain.
Johnnie, Melba, Marylyn and Delia had joined us and Johnnie
had made a big pitcher of lemonade, which she served after
our prayer. We all sat there visiting for a while. Then
everyone went home for their supper.
The
next day when we meet Johnnie had made another pitcher of
lemonade and Delia brought some home made peanut butter
cookies.
?
Today
when Sergio prayed for rain he ended his prayer by giving
thanks for the companionship of our group and the lemonade
and cookies.
While
we were sitting there I noticed that the sun had gone behind
a cloud. Then we all heard it! A distant roll of thunder.
With in five minutes it started raining. I don??™t mean just a
little shower, but a real gully washer.
Everyone made a run (maybe I should say swim) for home.
Thunder was crashing, lightning was flashing and the rain
came down in bucketsful. It went on like this for two solid
hours.
That
night on the news the weatherman said we had over two inches
of rain and there was more forecast for tomorrow.
It has
rained every day for two weeks now. My yard is a big mud
puddle with two inches of water in it. But my pecan trees
have come out of their shock and have turned green again.
I
called Wayne, Jos?© and Sergio and asked them to come over.
We sat at the table on the front porch to talk the situation
over. Sergio asked if we should pray for the rain to stop? I
told them we should be careful what we ask for because we
might just get it.
We all
looked at each other and Wayne said we better leave well
enough alone. But what we did do is a whole nother story for
a different time.
?©
Copyright 2003
Loren Moore |
