1/23/19 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –
If you are reading this blog and you live in New England, you will know that two major events happened this past Sunday. Tom Brady lead the N.E. Patriots to his 9th Superbowl and the 3rd one in 3 years. And the other major event is that we survived the biggest, coldest, windiest and most “wicked” nor’easter of all time!!
Well, one of those two things actually happened: the Patriots are indeed going back to the Superbowl. However, that storm that they had been warning us about for days, that storm that drove people to Home Depot and Lowes to buy that generator and or snowblower, that snow storm that forced people to run to Shaw’s and Walmart to buy food because they assumed, if they did not, everyone would surely starve!! Well… at least where I live, this storm wasn’t even close to the Great Blizzard of 1978.
That storm last Sunday brought temperatures to the single digits, so it was cold, but combine the snow and wind gusts of 50 MPH… well, let’s just say that the snowfall totals were like the Kansas City Chief’s defense on that last drive of the football game: almost not existent!
As I was thinking about all the snow we did not receive this weekend, my mind went to mindless trivia information about snow. Did you know that… Syracuse, NY tried to make snow illegal? It’s really true! In 1992 the city’s Common Council passed a decree that said that any snow before Christmas Eve was illegal. God must have been smiling because it snowed just two days later.
Did you know that each winter in the U.S., at least 1 Septillion snowflakes fall from the sky? That would be a one with 24 zeros: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Believe it or not, those numbers are even bigger than the U.S. deficit!!
Want some more useless snow information? The largest snowflakes ever observed fell during a snowstorm in January 1887 at Montana’s Fort Keogh. Witnesses said the flakes were “larger than milk pans.” Did you know that the most snow to fall in a 24 hour period was in 1921? Over six feet of snow fell between April 14 at 2:30 p.m. and April 15 at 2:30 p.m. in Silver Lake, Colorado. Hang on for one more riveting piece of snow trivia… In 2007, 8962 people in North Dakota plopped down in the snow, wiggle their arms and legs to set a world record for the most snow angels made simultaneously in one place.
Now before you think I have become delusional, I really do have a point. Did you know that of those 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000+ snow flakes that fall each year, that God did not make one of them alike? And God made you like no one else too… For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalm 139:13-17
Here is something that you might not have known about snow: snow is translucent and not white! Snow, like the ice particles it’s made up of, is actually colorless. It’s translucent, which means that light does not pass through it easily (like it would transparent glass), but is rather reflected. It’s the light reflected off a snowflake’s faceted surface that creates its white appearance.
Maybe Isaiah understood that when he wrote… “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Scarlet and crimson represent our sin and our guilt. Sin is intensely personal: I will not be held responsible for your sin, or my children’s sins, only my sins. Sin also has profound relational implications. Yes sin harms us, but it also harms others and often it harms the ones we love the most. Above all, it affects our relationship with God because our sin is against Him.
But one of the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 neat things about God, is that when we come to God through a personal relationship with Christ, we receive the great gift of God’s forgiveness. And the forgiveness is for every act of rebellion, every hateful deed, every sin that I have committed and will ever commit. Please understand that when we come to Christ, God no longer sees red, He sees “white as snow” because at that moment we begin to reflect the “light of the world,” Jesus.
And if you are a Christian and your life is looking a bit like dirty snow, could it be that you are allowing sin to remain a part of your life? If so, why? God can do what no one else can do, He can “take the red out.” He can extract every last sin, all the scarlet and crimson from your soul. Satan wants us to live with sin, but you cannot do that without paying a price. King David understood that, so when he was confronted with his sin of adultery, David went to God and said… Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7
If someone calls you a “snow flake” this week, may it be because your life is reflecting Jesus, the light of the world. Matter of fact, as we live out our life this week, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!
