April 29, 2018
April “snowers” bring may flowers. We experienced an exceptional weather event this year. The longest January I can ever remember went right up through mid-April. In my 18-year history at Calvary, I have never had to cancel a service because of weather and this year we had to cancel services on two different Sundays and one Wednesday night. This is part of the reason you are receiving this later than normal. I usually slate time on Monday mornings for writing you, but instead I was out playing with a skid loader clearing the church parking lot.
Us “Minnesnowtans” always have a ready-made topic of conversation in the weather. I don’t know what all the concern about climate change is? If you live in Minnesota, you experience climate change every 24-hour cycle. Today it is going to be near 80 degrees and there are still some piles of snow left. The wind is blowing so hard it almost knocked me off the freeway earlier today. Tomorrow, there is the threat of thunderstorms. At least there is no snow in the forecast.
Talking about the weather is a Minnesota nicety. It is something we can speak to a total stranger about in passing and we are all ready to engage with each other and add our two-cents towards the predictions, lament the latest forecast, or embellish the current conditions. Those of us in the North land share a common bond, and though we bellyache about it sometimes, there is something invigorating about facing a storm. That is until property is damaged or somebody gets hurt.
Weather can be a metaphor for life. We never know for sure exactly what to expect. Like the weather, the Scriptures say: “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1). One phone call, one doctor’s report, one pink slip, one accident, one unexpected incident can change the course of our day and in some cases the course of a life time. This is why we need to build our lives on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. Every one of us is going to face storms. They are unavoidable. But with Jesus we cannot only survive them but thrive through them and grow because of them.
(Matthew 7:24-27) 24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
May God help us to weatherproof our spiritual houses by building on the only foundation which can weather the storms of life. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
Sheltering in Him,
Pastor John Schofield
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