Winter weather (i.e. rain)

The winter weather has finally started here in Jerusalem and the rain is definitely in full swing.  It is pouring buckets out.  Now to many people this seams like a good thing after months and months of no to very little rain, but in actuality it a heavy rain is not good after months of dry weather.  If the ground is so dry and hard it cannot soak up the rain so the water just runs everywhere, eventually finding channels that lead to the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, etc.  With all this runoff goes some top soil and leached nutrients.  So, when people pray for rain here, it is good to pray for no more rain than the ground can handle. Right now we are supposed to be getting fives days of steady rain possibly some snow mixed in.  It looks like God has just given us a reprieve however.  As I've been typing this message, the rain has stopped! Hopefully the rest of the five days of rain will come in amounts the ground can soak up...