God, Rain, and Sonny

In 1971 I was diagnosed with the severely crippling and then death sentence, Meningitis. My grandmother, mother, and aunt were told to prepare for my death. I was given six months to live with this debilitating neurological damaging condition. Prior to the confident team of medical specialist condemning me and giving God’s blessings (the three women referenced) the verdict, my condition was a medical mystery. The family physician had no clue what was causing the high fevers and dangerous body tremors. He was dumbfounded by the little black infant who tried to swallow his tongue two to three times a week. I was his lost cause and a representation of his professional failure. He could not save me because of his limited knowledge of inflammation of the protective membranes covering the central nervous system. Therefore, my family had no other choice - but to rely heavily and solely on God answering their prayers.

The story of my medical tap dance with God’s only guarantee has become a story that my mother tells each and every Thanksgiving. She usually ends it with, “You were saved for something, so don’t make a fool out of God.” On the other hand, the specialists are probably still wondering: What in the hell?? Mary, Frankie, and Willie Jean are definitely not pondering this question. To do so means that they are questioning the spiritual power that they invested several nights of prayer in. Prayer, not a rain dance. Ya see, I did not die like the MD’s playing God thought I was going to. According to these three women, my life was spared because they petition God. They prayed, and their prayers were answered.

It remains to be seen if Georgia’s governor, Sonny Perdue and other religious Believers’ prayers for SIGNIFICANT rain will be answered just like the prayers that were offered up by those three women on Small Street back in Thomasville, North Carolina almost 36 years ago. Will it rain in abundance? Will the prayers that were unconstitutionally expressed on government property be received and answered by God Almighty? Or, will the state of Georgia and its residents end up importing water from other ‘rain blessed’ territories? From the fervidness of the numerous prayers I heard I am willing to wager that God will graciously send a shower or two. Or, will it be a climate change to produce the rain? Either way, the Believers will zealously credit the wet droppings of Mother Nature to Jesus. What a minute, I need to be clear here. The accolades should go to God, and not His son. Right? I interject this question to make a small point: No one KNOWS if there is a God up above the clouds answering prayers. We are in the dark on this one–but no one really wants to be forceful with their controversial beliefs in fear that they will be labeled an atheist. However, more of us should push the limits of reason, logic, and faith.

An earnest faith does dictate action to some degree. Thus the reason the young and old were meters away from Turner Field pleading with God. Faith does encourage the thoughts of believing: ALL can be conquered with God’s assistance. All you have to do is confess with thy mouth, and believe. This is what the scripture states. The scripture also reads, I, the LORD, am the one who sends storm clouds and showers of rain to make fields produce. So when the crops need rain, you should pray to me (Zachariah 10: 1). So it is true. God does demand that we pray for rain. The bible tells us so, so we believe. That bible is so informative, and insightful. Really?

To be insightful means an individual is a clear thinking and deeply perceptive person. He is an intelligent man who often times contemplate with a savvy understanding of reality. But, it is evident reality is relative for us humans. We see the world in differing and abstruse complexities. Different viewpoints that in most cases lead us to believing in convoluted concepts that cannot be substantiated. Therefore, we often times toss up our ignorance to ‘believing via faith’. This is what Sonny has decided to do. He believes it will rain enough now to save us. The rain for him is about to come. Return to earth like the Saving Son of Man plans to. Jesus and rain. How soon will they relieve us from the drought and from the world we have created?

The funny thing about a drought is it typically does not last forever. Rain does eventually come–but this time the rain will be welcomed unlike when I was a child: I hated rain. Also, when it comes, will it be the result of our conditional effort to communicate with God? I want to believe that the down pour (a needed 5 days worth) that will be in the forecast soon is NOT a consequence of a symbol of white and conservative authority disrespecting our once cherished constitution.

Do we really believe we have the power to move God to action? What does it mean if we have to pray for the one thing that produces and sustains life? Isn’t God aware Georgia needs a drenching of H20? If this God we pray to is omnipresence, why should we continue to ask Him for the critical things? If we sincerely believe that our ‘all about us’ prayers lights a fire under God’s behind we are in effect conveying to each other: We Are In Control, Not God. Also, is our New Testament God so sadistic that He will not respond to evils and natural disasters simply because we are not praying?

I conclude with this analysis and questions that have continuously been unanswered by priest and laypersons alike because of the one thing related to praying I am sure of: God only gets glorification for the answering of prayers we believe we selfishly need answering. The other prayer requests that go unaddressed by God are labeled: It was/is not in God’s plan. There we go again attempting to understand the un-understandable. How do we know that there is a plan in the first place? Our religious arrogance always seems to get in the way of the God-given logic we possess. This is not only pitiful, it is dangerous! So dangerous - we have for years made every attempt to alter and deify nature, but now we are asking God to bail us out once again. God ain’t stupid!

Written by Muata. Inspired by this: “Sonny prayed, and now it is going to rain.” Illogical??

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