"Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand." I Kings 18:44
You remember the story of Elijah's and Ahab's "Rain Contest"? God had sent a drought on Israel, during the days of wicked King Ahab’s reign, to punish the nation of Israel for their sin of worshipping a false god, Baal. Finally God called the prophet, Elijah, to go to King Ahab, to tell him that He was going to send rain. Elijah called all the people of Israel together to witness a kind of contest. He was going to prove to them who the true God was. He told them to build two altars, and to prepare two bulls for the sacrifice, one for each altar. He instructed them to get the altar all ready, but not to put any fire under the sacrifice. The contest was, whichever god, Baal or Elijah’s God, sent fire to the altar was the true God.
I remember it well, the summer of 1958. Forest fires were rampant in Northwestern British Columbia, Canada, eating up acres and acres of forestland. My father, J. A. Splane was on the fire crew with the Forestry.
I lived in the area at the time, and knew the horror of the fires, but I did not learn of this story until twenty years later, when I happened to meet the foreman who had been in charge of Dad's crew. Although he had been one of the scoffers back then, he never forgot J. A. Splane and his constant testimony.
Each day the fires grew worse, raging out of control, with no relief in sight. On this particular day, while his crew was on their lunch break, Dad started to tell the men the story of Elijah and the rain cloud.
"Just you wait and see," Dad said, "God will send rain, just as He did in Elijah's time." The men guffawed and joked, but Dad was undaunted.
Here is a story-poem I created, in memory of this incident.
The rain started coming. In torrents it poured. The sky flashed with lightning. The thunderclaps roared. The men in the forest all laughed with great glee. From fighting the fires they now would be free. They stood in the downpour; they basked in the rain. They no longer laughed at John Allyn Splane. For days, while they fought through a fire-filled path, Al preached of King Ahab, and of Jehovah's great wrath. He told how Elijah--after three years of drought--called the prophets of Baal to have a "pray-out". Elijah said, "Ahab, you have made Israel sin. That's why God's allowed this famine you're in. ”Now gather the people together, I pray; for God will be sending a rain-storm today." King Ahab's false prophets all gathered around. They hollered and shouted and fell to the ground. They cried and they yelled, till their voices were hoarse…But Baal didn't hear them: he couldn't, of course! And then on towards evening, Elijah's turn came. "Oh, Lord God in heaven, send fire; then rain. Dispel from Your people their fear and their doubt." He spoke, oh so quietly. No, he didn't shout. The men looked around at the clouds of black smoke. They bellowed with laughter, "Oh Al, you're a joke!" They scoffed and they ridiculed his silly notion. This made Al fight harder, this inferno in motion. The firestorm, like a freight train, roared up the ravine, leaving smouldering ashes where tall trees had been. Big branches, like fiery spears, pierced through the air. Of escaping this horror, the men did despair. A towering wall of flames was approaching. On their one road to freedom it was boldly encroaching. While fire roared above them, they stumbled and fell. Right now all that mattered was to run from this "hell". They crashed through scorched gullies, a safe place to find. But dense smoke and wind left them virtually blind. Then later, holed up in a cave the men found, J.A., once again, God's truths did expound. "I know God will answer. His rain He will send. You just wait and see. This nightmare will end." With contempt the man scoffed. They cursed and they swore. But Al shut his eyes, and prayed all the more. And twenty years after that “day of the rain,” one man still remembered old John Allyn Splane. He told me this tale with tears in his eyes. The shame for his scoffing, he didn’t disguise. For he was the foreman of John Allyn’s crew. He never forgot what true faith can do.
To the people of Israel Elijah did cry, "Why are you so doubtful of God? Tell me: Why? We'll now have a contest: Baal's prophets and God. We'll soon know for sure which god is a fraud."
Al said to his work-mates, "God sent rain that day. And He'll send a deluge on us, if we pray." 
The hours passed so slowly. The crew fell asleep. But Allyn, the oldest, his vigil did keep. Not once did he doubt that the rains would soon come... He then heard a boom like the beat of a drum. He crawled past the men to the mouth of the cave. A loud shout of praise to his God he then gave. 
For there through the skies came a deluge of rain, with loud claps of thunder, again and again.
© Helen Dowd
See Story: A Little Cloud - A Great Rain