This morning I stepped out of my car and dodged puddles and rain drops from my parking spot into the Post Office in Tuscaloosa. Shaking off the rain, I recalled an event from nearly 11 years ago – March 31, 2009 to be precise. It was raining that day, much like today.

We were living in a town of less that 1,000 people and preaching in the next town over – a town of roughly the same size. Just like in the movies, people knew you, especially if you were a local preacher married to one of the elementary school teachers.

That rain soaked morning at the Oakman Post Office a young mother and her little boy (about 3 years old – wow he would be a teenager now) stepped in out of the rain. I heard the mother say, “You can ask him, he will know, he’s a preacher.” I was not however ready for the question he asked. “When its raining here, is it raining where God is?”

Wow! How do I answer that? Here is what flashed through my mind before I answered:

• “No, God is light, it never rains in heaven. Heaven is always bright and sunny like a nice early summer day.”
• “Yes, God is everywhere, so when it rains here, since He is here with us, it is raining where He is.”

How could I answer this little budding theologian? I replied, “That is a great question. I have never thought about that, thanks for asking me.” I think I added something about God knowing that it is raining here.

I spent the next half an hour running his question through my mind bouncing between the two answers. I still think about that question – especially when we have had as much rain as we have had this month.

When it rains here, does it rain where God is?

A “grown-up version of the question is: “When I as a child of God am feeling down, does God hurt with me?”

– Scott