Clouds

Man! I just marvel at the clouds here in Africa! Today God has put on a glorious display of the many shapes, sizes, formations, and colors of clouds.
I needed to read a couple of chapters of a book for my English today, and I decided to read it up in a tree. So I climbed up my favorite tree and settled down in my favorite crook of that favorite tree, and started to read. It had been raining most of the night before and all of this morning. With the rain came the wind: rushing about trying to keep of with the rain, but always a little early or a little late. The wind was pounding on the tree causing it to bend. It smashed into me, chilling me to the bone.
I finished one chapter of the book, and wanted to move around a bit to kind of warm up. I climbed a bit higher and began to gaze at the landscape. On the horizon, way in the distance, were the flat skinny clouds with little bumps here and there. They stretched themselves flatter and flatter the farther away they went, trying to cover the seemingly endless expanse of the horizon. As I brought my gaze closer to me, the layers of clouds got puffier. I seemed to be lying on a bed with a big, soft comforter, looking across all the rolling hills and valleys in it.
Every once in a while my eyes would find a bright blue patch in the sky. The cleanness of that rain-washed sky was incredible. That “sky”-blue was just so punchy. There was no haze between my and it: so awesome.
As I rolled my head back to get the full dome of the sky in view, I was startled at what I saw: a black cloud. It was ominous: hanging over me so dominant yet so able to avoid my gaze. It spread its wispy arms in a circle trying to get as wide as it could without loosing its sheer bulk. It was this striking difference to all the other clouds that startled me. All the other clouds were delicate. They were decoration: like flowers spread throughout a living room; giving it a homey feel. The big dark cloud was like a huge oak tree right in the middle of a living room. It wasn’t homey, it wasn’t decoration: it was meant to be marveled at.
It was interesting what I saw next: two eagles soaring. Catching every gust of wind. Playing with the weather. Dancing with the clouds. I loved just watching them. I sat there at the top of my favorite tree wishing I could fly like those eagles, soar like those eagles.
Then…SPLAT. A huge raindrop landed on my arm. Uh-oh. More fell. They were huge! They left wet marks all over me, not like little sprinkles that disappear. By the time I was down the tree and heading toward the house, the ground was almost all wet. Rain in Africa: I love it.

And the smell that comes with it…. uh.. well, I won’t even try to put that into words.

I love God and His nature, and all the dazzling shows he showers all around us. Take notice of his marvels. They’re all around you.

(By the way, these aren't pics of today: just some of my favorite cloud pics)