This past Sunday morning, knowing that I’d be leaving Honolulu for an overnight flight home that evening, I did what I had done every morning for the past nine days that I’d been in town for some family vacation and to attend the Baptist World Congress: I got up early and went for a long walk. I took my camera along and hiked along the beach toward Diamond Head, hoping for a nice shot of the sunrise.
It was not to be, however, for the clouds hung low. Then, while I was far from the hotel, it started to rain. I had two umbrellas in the room, but none in my hand. Even so, I worried not, for it was a gentle rain, and I knew that with rain, you sometimes get rainbows. So, when a bit of sun poked through the clouds, I scanned the horizon and soon found the bright spot I was looking for. Interestingly enough, the rainbow appeared to be rising directly from the sea wall in Ala Moana Beach Park, where my family had enjoyed several quiet evenings watching the sun go down and the surfers go by.
I once was a science teacher and I know that rainbows happen when light rays get bent by airborne water droplets that act as tiny prisms, breaking the light into its component colors. But I’m also a Bible reader and I know the story about how God showed Noah the rainbow as a sign of peace and blessing and hope.
No matter the explanation, I saw it, and was glad.
Everyone needs a rainbow now and then.