‘He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous’ (Matthew 5:45). So, was there a particular rainstorm that Kelly Carpenter was remembering in 1996 when he asked the Creator to “Send Your Rain”? Was Kelly appealing for just some of the same common grace of which Jesus was speaking (like when the rain fell on my street recently [see the picture]), or was there something more consequential about the rain he wanted to fall from the heavens? Did Kelly’s home’s climate coax him to write about rain? One can gather lots of questions when so few answers present themselves. Just try reading some of this songwriter’s biography, and you might be able make an educated guess about what his focus might have been, as he prayed for a weather event. See what you think.
Any number of biblical episodes might have sparked Kelly Carpenter’s imagination as he lifted his thoughts skyward with a simple prayer, perhaps an occasion that intersected with something unique in his own life. Numerous characters in God’s story experienced His wrath or His blessing through rainfall. Did the people of Noah’s day even know what rain was, since none had been sent by Him to nourish the earth (Genesis 2:5), and no rain is mentioned again until Noah had finished building what God had told him to make (Gen. 7 – 9)? Certainly, those people must have felt God’s rain that time was a curse, so we can surmise that Kelly was probably not thinking of Noah and the ark when he prayed about rain. How about when Moses (Deuteronomy 11 and 28), or when Samuel (1 Samuel 12) told their contemporaries about rain, and how that spoke of God’s relationship to the people? But perhaps it was the episode between the prophet Elijah and the corrupt king Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 17 and 18) that spurred Kelly’s thoughts. Elijah told the them that no rain would fall – and it didn’t for three years – until God told him it would, apparently as punishment for evil among the people, such as idol worship that God detested. Justice, on God’s terms, may be visited upon a people when He is particularly incensed; perhaps it takes a years-long drought and a slaughter of false prophets on Mount Carmel and a nearby valley for some people to admit who is the true God. Was there something similar that Kelly saw in 1996 that he thought needed some Divine retribution and correction? He asked for the Lord to ‘bring your kingdom’, for people’s ‘hearts’ to be ‘soft(ened)’, and for the ‘Spirit’ to be ‘pour(ed) out’, not unlike what Elijah prayed on that mountain (1 Kings 18:36-37) when Baal’s believers were humbled and punished. Who is Kelly Carpenter, you might ask, that might make him pray for rain? Besides singing the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) – about the kingdom coming, and His will being done here – Kelly says in his own bio that he seeks ‘peace and social justice’ and wants ‘to make a difference’, by using music and the arts as vehicles for promoting ‘peace, justice, equality, and prosperity’. He sounds like guy who does his part to bring the rain, doesn’t he?
More of Kelly’s personal information and some ‘bio bits’ on his website indicate he has been based in the Pacific Northwest, and seems to be a fan of the Mariners in Seattle, a place pretty familiar with wet weather. Additionally, his spiritual life apparently deepened at one point when he was led to the Vineyard Church in the 1980s and ‘90s, the period in which he wrote ‘Send Your Rain’. Here’s some more about this guy: described as a ‘natural musician from childhood’; thinks D-minor is the saddest of all musical keys; likes sci-fi movies, though his favorite movie is The Sound of Music; and says he almost always has at least one song occupying his thoughts. So what…why should you know some trivial details about one guy named Kelly? Do you think God has that reaction when he listens to each of us when we pray? He wants to know what is motivating each of us, and whether we see Him on planet earth each day, or whether we just shrug our shoulders when a few raindrops fall. When’s the last time you stood on your porch and watched the rain, and said ‘Wow!’? Let the rhythms of the world He made say something to you, OK?
See the following for songwriter’s official website: About | Kelly Carpenter (kellycarpentermusic.com)
A video of this male artist singing another song he wrote: Kelly Carpenter sings "Draw Me Close" - YouTube
The picture of rain was taken in Fairfax, VA by the blog author on 7/19/2023, and therefore has no copyright restrictions.
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