Snow Sideways…

Confession: I call my local Starbucks my office. Living in the country, our internet isn’t always dependable, so I know that I can go there, get my work done, and if I happen to partake of whatever is pictured on the board at the counter, I figure that’s just an added bonus. Yesterday, I sat at the big table. You know, the one that NO ONE wants to sit at because you know you’ll end up sitting by strangers that want to take business calls and talk as loud as they possibly can… but I’m totally cool with that. Of course, it happened just like I thought – the table was filled within minutes, but of people apparently doing the same thing I was, until guy in front of me started yelling  – “Look!…

“Outside!!!…” The ENTIRE store turned and snow was blowing sideways. Guys, I’m from south Mississippi and now I live in west Alabama; we don’t have a clue what to do during anything like that except stare – and that’s exactly what we did. The snow was blowing sideways. SIDEWAYS. Time stopped for all of us in that moment. My brain started churning and I thought, “How many of these people are in awe of the fact that God can make snow come down sideways & how many are thinking that it’s just another crazy weather day (which we have A LOT of down here )…” Do you do that? Do you ever sit and wonder what everyone else is thinking?

My times with the Lord lately have been hammering pretty hard about faith. And by ‘hammering pretty hard’ I mean: He’s taking a sledge hammer to my heart and making room for a bunch of growing that is beginning to take place. Stories, scripture, testimonies, everywhere I’m being hit with ‘faith-building’ realities. Mom-mode hit me a few minutes later so I drove over to Isaiah’s school, picked her up, headed to grocery, and made the 1 hour trek home (it usually only takes 25 min, but b/c of road conditions, it took an hour). She was squealing in excitement and as we were making our trek through the country roads, I began to see so many birds and was reminded that God cares for each one of them … even in the snow that they never see… but they still know what to do… b/c God made them that way… even though the snow was blowing sideways on them… do you see where I’m going?

I began to share with Isaiah the time Jesus talked about the birds:

“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.                              And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”    Matt. 6:26

We came home, threw on every piece of thick clothing we could find, and headed out into the winter wonderland that was our home. Andy joined us later on and the first thing she shared with him about her day was: ‘Hey Dad, did you know that God knows where all these birds are in the snow? And He takes care of them…’ And I saw and was reminded, in that instant, that it was nothing for her to believe God had her surroundings all under control — even when the snow was blowing sideways. So maybe I should take a cue from the 5 year old whose hands are blistering due to insatiable need to build a snowman in the southern snow — God cares for us, He sees us, He knows… even when He allows the snow to blow sideways.

A picture from our adventures in the snow yesterday: