A little sunshine from rain

I have to say, I was dreading today’s after-school science session.

A couple of days ago, I got a phone call about parents from the private school complaining about some of my supplies not working and the dismissal being too hectic – never mind that their precious angels wiped my said supplies out of working order or that one of their own was in charge of the dismissal.

The subject for this week’s lesson: weather.

I asked, “What makes it rain?” The students responded: clouds, evaporation of water, and God. What can I say? I am a guest at a Catholic school.

They knew all kinds of things about rain, about the water cycle, and even about acid rain. Awesome! Especially since part of my lesson today was to measure the pH of different solutions to measure acidity.

The kit I was given for this lesson included vinegar, hydrochloric acid (really!), and sodium borate. Now the scientist I am knew that I needed to stay clear of that hydrochloric acid since it can burn holes right through clothes (that would make for some really, really cranky private school parents).

Instead, I decided to add real rain – after all, I wasn’t teaching about theoretical, non-tangible things – I was teaching about the weather! And, it had been raining for days, so I did some collecting.

I had a student really impressed by this.

She said, “That's not tap water? You really collected rain?”

Me, “Yes, I really did collect rain.”

She smiled a smile filled with awe, and at that moment, I felt that maybe God really did have something to do with the rain. I had just received a little sunshine from all that rain.