I live in one of the unfortunate areas that has been pounded by snow in recent weeks. Strangely I moved two hours south and never experienced a winter up north quite like this one. Every time the crews get cleaned up from one storm, another one comes. Schools have been shut for two straight weeks. The last I heard, they might go today, ironically President’s Day when they were scheduled to have off.
To add more insult to injury, they’re calling for 1-3 more inches of snow today. It’s not much when compared to the 30 some inches that we’ve already received this month but it’s an annoyance as much as anything now.
As a pastor this is more than a mere annoyance. I had to close church two weeks in a row. This is in addition to closing the Sunday before Christmas this year. We finally had church yesterday. Attendance wasn’t bad but some of the elderly I don’t expect to see until spring at this point. I don’t blame them because if there’s anything to slip on, it would be disastrous for them. Of course offering was up yesterday, but not enough to make up for not having church two weeks in a row. Almost all of a church’s costs are fixed. Just because church isn’t open doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any bills for that week.
Of course even in the midst of all of this, God obviously has a purpose. It is frustrating but every so often we need to be slowed down and to focus on what really matters. We need to be taught patience and learn that God is in control no matter what. Even Paul had to learn this lesson. His heart was in the right place as he wanted to continue on his missionary journeys. But while Paul was locked in prison, he wrote a large part of the New Testament. Some of Paul’s most lasting contributions to the Christian church came during a time when he was inconvenienced and had to be slowed down.
So, I don’t really like the snow right now and if you’re a part of the 60% plus country that currently has snow cover, you might not be happy either. But God is still in control of the entire situation and there is good to come out of it.