Some of you may know that I grew up in Texas. In the part of Texas I grew up in, we would have a little snow pretty much every year. It might not add up to much, but it would be enough that the wind drifts would get decently deep. I remember one in front of our house one year that actually got deep enough for my pickup to get stuck in. Of course, the wind had blown all the snow from the rest of the ground into that drift, so the rest of the ground was snow-free. And usually, the snow would melt by the next day.
Just over a year ago, I moved to the greater Atlanta metro area, after well over a decade in the northern Utah mountains. During the whole of the winter that I was here last year, we had no snow at all. Then, earlier this week, the forecast came in. A couple of inches of snow, after a couple of days of temps in the 60's. That meant that the small amount of snow would fall on the roads and melt. Then, combine that with a couple of days well below freezing, and you end up with a nice layer of ice on the ground and roadways.
Combine that layer of ice with a metro area in which more than a million people need to get home, and with little to no snow removal or preparation, and you get a recipe for disaster. Over the past two days, schools, churches, and businesses have been cancelled. My wife was following a number of stories in which it took people over 18 hours to commute back to their homes from the time they left work Tuesday afternoon. While some of that is a reflection of drivers who aren't used to the conditions, much of it has to do with the simple dynamic of driving on a sheet of ice in hill country. Bad idea, in other words.
While we are starting to thaw out (60s for the coming weekend again!!!), it really did marvel me. We think we, as humans, have so much control over the things of this world. And yet, in the right conditions, God can drop two inches of snow and bring a metro area of 6 million people to a grinding stop. For me, it was a stark reminder than God really can do many things, despite our attempts to control everything around us. It also was a stark reminder to be thankful that God doesn't often remind us of His power, but rather, of His grace, His overwhelming care and compassion for us.
Life will resume again, and I'll probably forget this little lesson (at least until the next snowstorm). But it's good that God does indeed remind us of what He can do, so that we are thankful for what He has done in giving His grace through Christ our Lord.
Just over a year ago, I moved to the greater Atlanta metro area, after well over a decade in the northern Utah mountains. During the whole of the winter that I was here last year, we had no snow at all. Then, earlier this week, the forecast came in. A couple of inches of snow, after a couple of days of temps in the 60's. That meant that the small amount of snow would fall on the roads and melt. Then, combine that with a couple of days well below freezing, and you end up with a nice layer of ice on the ground and roadways.
Combine that layer of ice with a metro area in which more than a million people need to get home, and with little to no snow removal or preparation, and you get a recipe for disaster. Over the past two days, schools, churches, and businesses have been cancelled. My wife was following a number of stories in which it took people over 18 hours to commute back to their homes from the time they left work Tuesday afternoon. While some of that is a reflection of drivers who aren't used to the conditions, much of it has to do with the simple dynamic of driving on a sheet of ice in hill country. Bad idea, in other words.
While we are starting to thaw out (60s for the coming weekend again!!!), it really did marvel me. We think we, as humans, have so much control over the things of this world. And yet, in the right conditions, God can drop two inches of snow and bring a metro area of 6 million people to a grinding stop. For me, it was a stark reminder than God really can do many things, despite our attempts to control everything around us. It also was a stark reminder to be thankful that God doesn't often remind us of His power, but rather, of His grace, His overwhelming care and compassion for us.
Life will resume again, and I'll probably forget this little lesson (at least until the next snowstorm). But it's good that God does indeed remind us of what He can do, so that we are thankful for what He has done in giving His grace through Christ our Lord.
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