Rainbow in Shenzhen

It was 14 March 2009. The time was around 12 noon. Time to knock off for my colleagues and myself who were working in the Shenzhen office. As we slowly drifted out of the office doors, one of our colleagues shouted excitedly for everyone to look out of the window. We did. And what a sight it was. A full-circle "halo" rainbow around the noon sun.

This was my third sighting of an "unusual" rainbow over the past few months. The first one was an inverted "smiley" rainbow which made a one-minute appearance in the sky of Jerusalem in December 2008. Read blog entry here.

The second was a BIG full-arch rainbow that appeared in the evening sky of Singapore on my birthday in February 2009. Read blog entry here.

Unlike the last two sightings which lasted not more than just a couple of minutes for me, this "halo" rainbow lasted much longer. This allowed me to have the presence of mind and the time to capture photos of it.

It was quite tricky though - imagine staring straight at the bright noon sun and you will see what I mean. By taking advantage of buildings and structures to obscure part of the sun, I managed to capture a few photos of the "halo" rainbow on my mobile phone. :)

Halo-ed sun peeking out from behind an office tower


Noon sun crowned with rainbow


The battery of my mobile actually went flat after just a few shots, and I had to go back to my apartment to re-charge my mobile phone.

It was well past 1pm by the time I got back to the apartments, had my lunch and fully recharged my mobile phone. When I got out of my apartment, I was pleasantly surprised that the rainbow was still hanging in the sky, although it was by then a semi-circle arch rather than a full-circle halo.

Among the photos are a few which showed the rainbow hanging over an apartment building with the four Chinese characters "Jia Nan Mei Di" (which translates as "The Beautiful Land of Canaan") on it.

Rainbow over "Beautiful Land of Canaan"


The sign of God's covenant of peace (the rainbow) over God's promised land flowing with milk and honey (the land of Canaan).

What a beautiful reminder of God's promises and His faithfulness :)

A view of the apartment blocks "Jia Nan Mei Di" (Beautiful Land of Canaan). To the far right of the photo is "Dong Fang Xin Di" (New Land of the East) where my apartment is located. It has an alternative name called "Xu Gu Tang" (Sanctuary of the Ancient Narration). The entire area is known as "Xin An Gu Cheng" (The Old City of New Peace).

Very poetic (in a biblical way), don't you think so? :)

A Big and Beautiful Rainbow for My Birthday on 25 February 2009

24 February:

After two full weeks away from Singapore, on the eve of my birthday, I finally got to enjoy a restful sleep at home.

I was happy. Happy to be home. Happy to have had my caregroup celebrate my birthday with me.

Photo taken by 69eFan69 from www.clubsnap.com

25 February 2009:

I found it really cool that the table calendar in my room should, on this very day, be turned to the page with the following verses:

"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent...but born of God" (John 1:12-13 NIV).

It was as if my Heavenly Daddy could not wait to remind on my birthday that I am His child. :-)

And I found it really really cool that before the day (which was cool and peaceful, the way I wanted it to be) ended, I got to see the biggest rainbow I had ever seen in my life.

Photo taken by Qazwer from www.clubsnap.com

I could have so easily missed the rainbow.

It was around 7.10pm in the evening, I was in Ang Mo Kio Center, just had my dinner, and was walking down the street toward the MRT station, when I saw a friend's text on my mobile phone telling me about the sighting of a double rainbow.

I looked up, and there, in front of me, was a huge brilliant rainbow in the canvas of the evening sky.

I gasped. It was an awesome sight to behold. "This must be the biggest rainbow I've ever seen in my entire life," I said to myself.

Because of its sheer size, I had to turned my head from left to right (as if I was watching a tennis match) to see it in its entirety.

Photo taken by Hidden3 from www.clubsnap.com

The rainbow was so big and so beautiful - so big and so beautiful that it felt unreal to me. I blinked my eyes several times to make sure what I was seeing was real. It was.

And within a minute or so, the rainbow disappeared.

I was reminded of the rainbow I saw in Israel. http://livelearnloveleavealegacy.blogspot.com/2009/01/after-week-of-touring-in-jordan-and-in.html

I was reminded of God's everlasting covenant of peace.

I was awed. I felt so blessed and so loved.

To me, the rainbow was a big and beautiful birthday gift for me from heaven. :-)

For more photos of the magnificent rainbow captured all around Singapore on 25 Feb 2009, do visit the following webpage: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=481342&page=3

Photo taken by FortyNine from www.clubsnap.com