On New Year’s morning, my son and I looked out our window to the East, and this is what we saw …

In just a few minutes, the sun dog had stretched or sprung upward …

… forming what was obviously one foot of a very large rainbow, the other foot of which was visible out our window to the South:

If you’ll notice, they are bending not inward but outward, which means that the bulk of the circle is above the earth.

Now technically, technically, the proximate cause of these rainbows was that there were a lot of ice crystals in the air on New Year’s morning. Someone sent me this picture, taken apparently before dawn, about an hour north of us:

So, yes, ice crystals.

But given that God is in control of all proximate causes, including atmospheric conditions, and given that atmospheric conditions do not always form a rainbow on New Year’s Day, I take this as a hopeful sign. From our house, the rainbow appeared to be stretching from the Shoshone-Bannock reservation north of Pocatello; over Pocatello; over the Snake River reservoir and several other small communities in our region. The rainbow was originally given as a promise to withhold a certain particular kind of judgement.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations (!): I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is set in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Genesis 9:12 – 16

Repetitive? You bet. God repeats important things.

So, thank you, Lord, for once again sending this sign. You know that our whole region desperately needs Your mercy, as does every region on the earth. I pray that You will continue to extend your mercy to Southeast Idaho in 2022, and in fact that You would pour it out more than ever before.