I love severe weather. Not the damage it does, but the sheer power of it. There is something about watching lightning and hearing the claps of thunder. I am enthralled when I see a video of a tornado.
I remember when I was a child, we had the opportunity to visit one of the Cleveland TV stations during a news broadcast. My dad was friends with the weatherman at the station, so he invited us to sit feet from the set as they did the evening news. There are two things I remember from that visit.
First, I remember that when the newscasters stood up from their desk after the broadcast, they were wearing colorful shorts with their dress shirts and jackets. I still wonder if anchors on CNN, FOX News, ESPN, and other channels still do that. I'm sure they do.
The other thing I remember were the radar printouts.
Keep in mind that this was the late 70's. There were very few personal computers, no Internet, and smart phones weren't even a glimmer in Steve Job's eye yet.
So when the weatherman let me take home these printed images of a hurricane as it trekked across the Atlantic, I was amazed. I took those images home and looked at them over and over again.
So what do newscasters in shorts and severe weather have in common? They both remind us that we only have glimpses of the power of God.
I am a part of a religious tribe that has often thought we have God pretty well figured out. If we "do worship" the right way and follow some rules, then God will be pleased. God loves us because we have figured him out and know how he ticks.
The reality is that God is far beyond our comprehension. When we think we have him figured out, he stands up from behind the desk and he's wearing colorful shorts. The God who seems to command rites and rituals turns a corner and calls us to extend mercy to the people who don't follow the rules we deem so important. To borrow the words of Hosea (that are repeated by Jesus), God demands mercy, not sacrifice.
And in the storms we are reminded of the power of God to create a world beyond our control. I'm also a part of a society that thinks we can control most anything. We pursue medicines to prevent death, and everyone still dies. We perform surgeries to look young, but we still get old. We live in nice neighborhoods and have nice jobs to hide our problems, but even families in the richest neighborhoods have struggles and sometimes fall apart.
I don't believe that God controls the weather so that he can punish people (HERE is an interesting take on this idea). However, I do believe that weather allows a glimpse into the power of God. One of my favorite lines in the movie Twister (I'm sure you can guess why it's one of my favorite movies. Maybe because if I wasn't a youth minister I would be a storm chaser. Some people would argue there isn't much difference.) is when they call an F5 tornado "the finger of God." I don't think it's God tearing people's lives apart on purpose, but I do believe that we get a taste of God's power in those moments when 200-300 mph winds rip across the landscape.
One of the reasons I am fascinated with weather now as an adult is that it makes a great metaphor for life. There are seasons of heat and seasons of cold. Sometimes it's calm and sunny and other times it's stormy and brutal. And no matter how hard someone tries to predict what will happen, they will never get it right all the time.
And so it is on this journey called life. We will all face storms and we will all have days when the sun is out and the temperature is just right. But whether it's weather or life, our God is bigger than all of it. He created us. He created weather. He created life. And the God that made all of that is that God that stands with us in good times and bad.
Sometimes I wonder if God listens to me and wants to respond the same way he did to Job:
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: "Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me. (Job 38:1-3 NIV)
May the Lord be patient with me, and with you, in the storms of life. And may we always remember that the power of God is more than we can imagine and the love of God is stronger than we know.
In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me. Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress. (Psalm 71:1-3 NIV)
shine!
Jason
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