The title would make a good country song. It is true around here. Farmers eyes are damp as their summer crops lie in the ground, or are turning brown from lack of rain. Gardeners and others weep as they see water bills skyrocketing. Fishermen and women search vainly for fish who are also searching for water with less salinity. We are dry. Super dry. Corpus Christi (30 miles away) has recorded 1.26 inches of rain this year. Normal would be 8.45 by this time. Old-timers anticipate what they think will happen. A hurricane or tropical storm will sweep in and deposit 10-20 inches or more in hours. It has happened before.
Droughts are nothing new to this part of Texas. Murphy Givens, a columnist for the Caller Times, went back to the weather books and came up with some interesting facts: "A drought afflicted South Texas almost every decade the last half of the nineteenth century, beginning in 1856 and 1857." He told of cloud-shooting tried in the 1890's with howitzers. Some of the experiments seemed to work. Others didn't. San Antonio tried and Laredo got the downpour. So it goes. In our times we have seen experiments with "seeding" clouds. Nothing much has worked to great satisfaction.
We who are Christians may find it feasible to speak to the Lord about the matter. He has sent rain and with-held rain through the ages. I don't think we need demand it. He might decide to pull the stopper and leave it out. I ask Him often if He might favor us with the needed rains. In the meantime withhold firing shotguns into clouds or hiring medicine men. Droughts will come and go. They always have.