I'm not sure if the following is what Rich Mullins was going for, but it's something that resonates with me.
While the content of the verses focuses on creating a mental image of God's splendor as visible throughout creation, to me the chorus seems to be more pointed, more specific. It paints a picture of a field, over which a storm is about to let loose its rain. Past the somewhat cliche exterior lies a deep reflection of our response to trials and darkness.
Consider these lines:
"I feel the thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name"
Imagine standing in a field with massive stormclouds hanging overhead. The sky is dark as they obscure the sun, and you can feel their rumbling thunder as it seems to shake the earth under your feet. You anticipate what will happen next, as we all know the rain will fall soon, and by the looks of the clouds, it will be no small drizzle. In the midst of this terrible sight, you sense the most peculiar thing - the fields are calling out to God. Not in fear, not in desperation, but in anticipation. See, the fields know who made the thunderclouds. It's the same Creator of the moon, the mountains, the rivers, the buffaloes, the pheasants. The fields can see, that not only is God present in the storm, He brings it to the field as provision and as sustenance, that they may grow from it.
How often we see storms in our lives, yet forget to see God's providence in them and through them. "And with the prairies I am calling out Your name"
I'm not sure if the following is what Rich Mullins was going for, but it's something that resonates with me.
While the content of the verses focuses on creating a mental image of God's splendor as visible throughout creation, to me the chorus seems to be more pointed, more specific. It paints a picture of a field, over which a storm is about to let loose its rain. Past the somewhat cliche exterior lies a deep reflection of our response to trials and darkness.
Consider these lines:
"I feel the thunder in the sky I see the sky about to rain And I hear the prairies calling out Your name"
Imagine standing in a field with massive stormclouds hanging overhead. The sky is dark as they obscure the sun, and you can feel their rumbling thunder as it seems to shake the earth under your feet. You anticipate what will happen next, as we all know the rain will fall soon, and by the looks of the clouds, it will be no small drizzle. In the midst of this terrible sight, you sense the most peculiar thing - the fields are calling out to God. Not in fear, not in desperation, but in anticipation. See, the fields know who made the thunderclouds. It's the same Creator of the moon, the mountains, the rivers, the buffaloes, the pheasants. The fields can see, that not only is God present in the storm, He brings it to the field as provision and as sustenance, that they may grow from it. How often we see storms in our lives, yet forget to see God's providence in them and through them. "And with the prairies I am calling out Your name"