The rainbow makes all the difference

Yesterday we talked about the flood in Genesis 6-8 and saw that a flood story was not unusual. What does make this flood narrative from all the others is the rainbow.

This was not how the other flood stories ended. In those stories, the gods are angry and everybody dies and the gods are satisfied. End of story. (Rob Bell – Flood)

The rainbow is a covenant between God and his people, a promise that He will never, ever do this again. That’s the difference. This is what makes this primitive story really, really progressive.

But this story, this story is about a God who wants to relate–
A God who wants to save–
A God who wants to live in covenant…
This story is about a new view of God.
Not a God who wants to wipe people out,
but a God who wants to live in relationship. (Rob Bell – Flood)

And what follows is a story from the life of my friend Amanda Boyd about how a rainbow made all the difference in her life. Thank you Amanda for sharing your story with us.

And God said, ‘I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth.’ Genesis 9:12-13

God’s own promise to his people. Rainbows are very special to our family. Each time we see them, we remember God’s promise to us, a promise of life. This is by far the most difficult testimony I have shared.

When our son was two years old, he was diagnosed with cancer. We were devastated. The first emotion was of disbelief – they had it all wrong…..he is only two years old…..how could he have cancer? There must be some mistake.

There was no mistake. He started a seven month course of chemotherapy immediately. I will admit I was angry and bitter: my son spent his third birthday in a hospital ward with other very sick children, we could not light candles for him, as it was a Health and Safety issue. I remember clearly thinking, as long as he is home and able to enjoy Christmas. That was not meant to be.

At the beginning of December, Kirk had a bad reaction to one of his chemo drugs and he was rushed to Intensive care at St Jimmy’s in Leeds. Kirk was dying, his liver was failing and he went into a coma. We prayed so hard, ‘Lord please don’t take our son from us; Lord, please, you could not be so cruel as to take our son from us; please Lord, take one of us instead, spare our son.

We sat at his bedside day and night for weeks, talking to him, reading to him, singing to him, bathing him, doing all we possibly could for him. The hospital staff were incredible, the nurses were true angels. As the days went on, Kirk’s liver was getting progressively worse and the consultants were now discussing Kirk’s options. Early on December the 21st, as the sun was just rising on a very grey day, a group of consultants gathered around Kirk’s bed and explained to us that Kirk’s situation was serious, he had managed to stay stable through the night and the next 12 hours would be critical.

Ali and I were in bits, our world was crashing down at an alarming rate and we prayed, we prayed so hard. PICU at St Jimmy’s is on the top floor so you can see over Leeds for miles and as I looked out of the window over the horizon, I could see a rainbow in the distance. I have always thought rainbows were pretty and I nudged Ali and nodded towards the window. He nodded back and we went back to listening to the consultants. Over the course of 20 minutes, we all became aware that the rainbow was coming nearer and everyone around Kirk’s bed – consultants, nurses and us – stood to watch it as it stopped right outside and filled Kirk’s window with colour.

I stopped crying, turned to the consultants and said, ‘Kirk is going to be fine, he is going to live, he is going to get through this. God has just promised us this.’

The rainbow stayed there for a good few minutes before disappearing. Within the hour, a nurse came with the results of his blood check and with a beaming smile said ‘His numbers have changed they have gone down by 0.001, it’s not much but it is in the right direction.’

Praise God.

Kirk continued to improve and we came back to the North East late on Christmas Eve. Kirk stayed in intensive care at the Freeman Hospital until being transferred to the RVI on New Year’s Eve. Kirk came out of his coma on Christmas night and in a quiet and squeaky, croaky voice said ‘Hello Mammy’.

It is the most treasured Christmas present I will ever have.

Gods promise to us, a promise of life. Prayer is a powerful thing and powerful things can happen when we come together in prayer. People all over the world prayed for Kirk’s return to health and our prayers were answered. This was our most powerful experience of God and it is unexplainable.

How did I know it was God?  I think I explained before that it was early morning, the skies were grey, no sunshine. There was no rain either.

Together in Christ, God Bless

Amandaxx