That was the question that came to mind for Mike and Harriet Groft as they passed by Colony Covenant Church during recent heavy rains that plagued the West Coast for several weeks.

"The San Joaquin Valley in the heart of California is the richest agricultural valley in the world," notes Mike in his email message to Covenant Newsdesk that accompanied this photo. "If it is from nature, we grow it somewhere here in this valley that stretches from Sacramento to Bakersfield. That is the good part.

"The bad part is that the rain situation never suits everyone all the time," he continues. That was especially true for Colony Covenant, which is situated in what Groft describes as "quaint countryside," surrounded by orchards and other crops. "Its parking lot is about four to six inches below the main road level and curved up on all four sides (like a bowl).

"This year we had a particularly dry winter up through March," Groft explains. "Then, suddenly, it began raining and has continued almost every day, so that now our Sierra Nevada Mountain snow-pack and the valley floor rain totals are about 140 percent above normal."

Groft is a public school band teacher (for 30 years) who says he enjoys taking his camera and looking for the unusual photo opportunity. "I almost passed up the church on my way to a meeting, but decided to turn around. I am very glad I did, and as you can see, the 'unique pic' was the result."