Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
- Numbers 11:1
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
So that everyone he has made may know his work,
he stops all people from their labor.
- Job 37:5-7
He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
- Psalm 147:15-18
When I wrote this, our church had cancelled all Sunday activities due to the impending winter storm, but they did so on Friday.
I thought about the assistant superintendent of schools in the county where we lived in South Carolina. He called the media to cancel schools before he went to bed one night. He did not wish to awaken at five in the morning, get the message garbled so that half the people missed the message. Besides, if he was not going anywhere, he wanted to sleep in. It did not snow. There was no freezing rain. The storm missed the county entirely, and the poor man did not have a job soon afterwards.
But it is now, on Saturday afternoon about a month ago, a sweltering 9 degrees F, -13 degrees C. I say sweltering in that it was a lot colder when I woke up. There is still no snow, but for older people with heart conditions – and you know they are going to attend church, while the young folk sleep in – the temperature could be deadly.
In cold weather, your blood vessels contract. Let’s say that you have a forty percent blockage near your heart. Suddenly that blockage doubles due to the cold weather. Now you go out and you shovel snow. That is how cold weather can become a killer.
So, maybe the pastor did the right thing.
But then, I saw a video from some beautiful young brown-haired Southern girl who was complaining about the weather, in a thick Southern accent. She started, “It’s as cold as a mother-in-law’s kiss. It’s so cold that my plumber pulled his pants up. It’s as cold as ex-wives at a wedding. It’s so cold the chickens are lining up at the oven door. It’s so cold it could freeze the balls off a pool table. It’s so cold the Statue of Liberty put her torch inside her dress.” There were a lot more thrown in there, but she almost lost it with the Statue of Liberty. She almost broke into a smile.
One or two of those and it was just complaining, three or four and she was saving idioms for posterity. But as she went on, I was laughing my head off.
When I was sweltering in the Southern heat, and out of work for months, I prayed that if anyone would hire me to a cooler climate, I would never complain about the cold. I felt that was a promise to God. It has gotten sweltering hot in Pittsburgh over the past thirty years, but to me, the present temperature is “a might brisk” which means that it’s so cold it could freeze green off a toad. And the Southern lady did not use that one.
And yet, I laugh. I can stay inside. I may have a much higher gas bill this month, but I am not frozen.
God brings good weather and bad weather. Our choice is how we make whatever we get a means to glorify and praise Him. He has little patience for those who complain, one way or the other.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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