Weather or not, here it comes – if not now, maybe later

Psalm 74:17 says, “You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; you made summer and winter.”

When I was younger, I wondered what it would be like to be a weather forecaster. It looked interesting.

What about it captured my interest? Well, the weather never seems to stay the same. I reasoned this could help keep things fresh and me on my toes.

It certainly wouldn’t be as mundane as producing the same widget behind the same machine day after day.

However, over time, I changed my mind about being a weather forecaster. Why? In part, it was because the very thing that makes the job interesting would also make it quite challenging, much more so than what I originally thought. Turns out, weather forecasting can be a difficult job to do.

I typically watch weather forecasters on television as well as follow a number of weather apps on my iPhone. It is a little distressing to me that they often disagree.

There’s a part of me that feels sorry for the people responsible for things like this. Why? It is because they can be wrong when you need them the most. If I were responsible, I would absolutely dread this.

We often schedule important plans around the weather. This would include making trips across the mountain passes. As such, our very lives may depend upon knowing what the weather will be like and making preparations based upon what we are told.

However, a weather forecast is just that. It is an educated opinion based upon the most accurate information available. It is the best we can humanly do. Over the years, it is true that forecasting the weather has become more accurate, but it is still far from perfect.

It is also true that we experience cold, blizzard-like storms in our lives.

My forecast is that this will always be the case within humanity. It is not the kind of thing we can move further south to avoid.

One cannot always predict the precise time and place of these storms, or the exact accumulative impact on our lives. To try to do so would be folly.

Being a Christian does not help avoid all such storms like some lucky rabbit’s foot.

If you experience the above, join me in prayer. Pray that God will lead you to the shelter you need to weather this storm and be open to God’s leading – that in seeking you will find others out there like yourself.

Share stories of the storms, and find warmth and shelter in caring fellowship.

Warmer, sunny days should follow, in God’s time.

You don’t need a weather map to make that happen.

Walter is pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Moses Lake and has served as parish pastor for more than 30 years.