We moved to Seattle in the summer. 

We were prepared to trade the sunny surf of Southern California for the majesty of real mountains, tall trees, and the famously wet weather. Mike and I and our two small kids willingly left family, friends, ministry, and predictability to build a brand new culturally relevant church community in an area that equated spirituality with recycling.

When we pulled into the driveway of our new home, the skies of the Puget Sound were sunny, radiant and a more pristine blue than I had ever seen. For the first month, Mt. Rainier could be seen in all its glory nearly ever day.

I packed away the 47 umbrellas people had given us when me moved and wondered why Seattle had ever been referred to as “the rainy city.” Months later, the umbrellas were still in the closet as Seattle experienced a freakish winter drought.

Finally, Seattle weather returned from its cloudless prodigal journey and got its act together. The heavens opened up and the rains came. They came with unwavering perseverance and austere determination. I started reading the weather report every day. I became obsessed with weather terminology. I read somewhere that Eskimos had hundreds of different words for snow. The Seattle weatherman had about that to describe rain, clouds and gray. Rain, rain changing to showers, heavy rain, light rain, windy rain, drizzle, fine rain, freezing rain. 

One day, while indulging my obsessive weather report checking, I came upon my favorite Seattle weather phrase, "sun breaks." When the sun peaks through the gray atmospheric blanket that covers the Puget Sound, Seattleites stop and notice. Eyes turn upward and life pauses. Fingers at Microsoft stop tapping keyboards, ferryboat passengers venture out on to the deck, drivers slow down, and even the tall evergreens seem to extend their branches toward the sun.

In the proverbial gray that occasionally blankets my life, there are distinct sun breaks, glimpses of hope and redemption that remind me of the Source of light and life, that give me pause to stop and notice. 

So, welcome to my blog. It’s called Sun Breaks.

I hope you like it.