This was me this morning, togged up after braving torrents of rain taking the dog for his morning walk.

Crazy, just 24 hours earlier I was speaking in a church in a short sleeved shirt, in warm sunshine about the River Man, and praying for him to visit us. This was because this week is the Jewish festival of Tabernacles, or shelters, when for a week they make a small outside shelter of branches and allow the children to sleep out. Great fun, sleeping under the stars.

It was to remind them of their 40 year pilgrimage from Egypt to the Promised land, when they had to sleep outside night after night.

At the end of the seven day festival the priests would draw water from the pool of Siloam and splash it on the altar as a reminder of how God provided them with life giving water through out their time in the desert.

But one year when they were doing this, they were interrupted by the loud voice of the River Man, calling everyone who was dry inside from legalistic, joyless, formal, loveless religion to drink His thirst quenching, new life giving water that would never run dry and would be like a river flowing up inside them to water not only their own lives but everyone they met.

You can read about this startling invitation in John 7 from verse 37 onwards.

This last day of the festival event is remembered on Wednesday 15^th October this year, only we couldn’t wait and started drinking of His river on Sunday, and found Jesus Christ really is the River Man!

And today the Rain Man!