Rainbows

I was driving back today from town when I caught sight of one of the largest rainbows I've ever seen. It stretched from one lake to another and filled the whole sky with beauty. It was full of bright pastels and, as I pulled back into my own little village, I noticed that it was a double rainbow. Whenever I see a rainbow I try to remember God's promises to us, the blessing of life, the fortune of being able to live a life where I can take time to notice rainbows. But I also found myself, as the AM station in my car was tuned to the Tennessee/Florida game, pretending that God's promises were only for me and my beloved Tennessee team as they were getting eaten alive by those hungry Florida Gators. As that thought passed through my mind I began to laugh. For while I do believe God cares about the intricately important details of each of our lives while also responding to the large scale concerns of the earth and the universe, I don't expect God to intervene in a playoff between two teams. I don't envision God choosing the team that will win based upon the number of believers in either of the cheering stands. Nor do I envision God choosing the team that will win based upon the authenticity of the pre-game prayer. Nor, despite what I heard a couple of nuns saying about their NBA favorites to the NPR anchor, do I believe that screaming prayers at the TV screen will make a heck of a lot of difference. But I do believe in God's promises -- like "I will be with you until the end of the age." I do believe that God cares about our emotions whether they are well-founded or not. And I believe God walks beside us whether our team wins or loses the game, whether our minds win or lose their struggle with sanity, whether our country wins or loses a war, whether our earth wins or loses its fight to sustain life. And I guess I have to believe that . . . because Tennessee lost.