I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13

Christmas morning 2013. On a cruise ship, in the middle of the ocean, far far from home or anything remotely familiar.
Nobody wanted to say it, so I did. "Hey girls it is Christmas Day." "Yeah we know" they said. And then there was silence which of course I tried to break again.
After a while we talked and remembered - Christmases past. Julius, his big smile, his joy, and enthusiasm. Christmas carols, Handels' Messiah, going to church, reading the Christmas story, opening gifts, the annual family picture with the camera on the tripod, eggnog and traditional Goan Christmas sweets, excited phone calls to India to wish all of the family. Every year he pretended that he did not have a gift for me and every year he surprised me and mostly himself I think. He always had the sweetest most thoughtful gift.
Last year he BBQed the turkey to perfection. Julius was a man gifted by God with many talents and in recent times he outshone us in the kitchen. He said a good 'chemist' should be a good cook and that he was. He called the kitchen a food lab and was frustrated with my labelling methods - where the contents were not necessarily what the label said they were. I washed and reused bottles without peeling off labels! An absolute no no in GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) he said. I just laughed him off. This past year the girls had bought him so much "equipment' for his food lab! He was so thrilled. Sweet memories...
We remembered, laughed some and wept lots. Waves of loss and grief washed over us and the fact that we will never have the "good old days" again. Never ever.
At that very moment, we looked out of the cabin porthole and lo and behold stretched across the ocean sky was a beautiful rainbow. An IPhone camera through glass of the porthole could never capture the moment but for us it was the "magic" of this Christmas morning. Surely this was Our Gracious God reminding us of His promise.






Christmas Rainbow

In Genesis 9:12-16 God said “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 
No it will never ever be the same, but He promises to remember so I must not forget.