4 ways that life is like the weather and what that can teach us about God

I spent 23 years forecasting the weather. I spent 21 of those years doing that in Hampton Roads. What a journey it was! Will I miss it? You bet. Will I miss getting up at 3:30 a.m.? Are you kidding me? I love staying up late to watch television after 10 p.m. and sleeping until 6:30 a.m.

Forecasting the weather put me in an interesting position. As a Christian for many years, I have found a unique parallel between the weather (which God created) and our lives (which God created).

1. Life is like the weather, it changes. People in Hampton Roads have told me a million times if you don’t like the weather here, wait a minute and it will change. So true. Living near the water offers the region some beautiful sights but also brings some dramatic weather changes in a blink of an eye. Life is that way, too. God designed life to change -- sometimes dramatically. You might wonder why? If life never changed it would get boring and predictable and that invites us to take things (and God) for granted. Many a marriage has crumbled due to monotony. I have learned that trusting God with my life means trusting Him through every part, every twist and turn, every mountain and valley that comes my way. An easy life always brings with it an attitude of self-reliance and that is the enemy of faith. Changes in life help cement our hearts to the Creator and Author of life.

2. Life is unpredictable, just like the weather. I hate to say that as a recovering meteorologist but the science is still an educated guess. I can’t tell you the number of times I was on the phone with a bride-to-be who wanted to know the weather forecast six months down the road. I tried to calmly tell her that I didn’t have a clue. It was impossible to even guess at it. I’m not a fan of long-range forecasts either. Oh…the number of times I would hear the winter forecast from some academic-type who was convinced that it was going to be a cold, snowy season. And how about the predictions of the hurricane experts? My co-anchors at my television station would come to me after that and say, “So what do you think?” I would just shrug my shoulders and say, “I don’t have a clue.” Nobody can predict the weather that far out. I say go buy a ground hog for a pet! Now back to the point. Life is totally unpredictable. One day you are funning it in the sun and the next day you are sitting in the hospital wondering what happened. One day you are happily married and the next day the rug has been pulled from under your world. The Lord uses this chaos to draw us into a dependence upon Him that eventually leads us into trusting Him with every facet of our daily lives. I believe that all of the craziness of life has a divine purpose; to draw His creation toward His nurturing, caring hands as a shepherd gathers his sheep into the sheep pen.

3. Extreme weather teaches us to appreciate the days of warm sunshine. Years ago I remember eight straight days of rain. Did I predict it? Yes -- one of the times I got it right. I remember telling the television audience that we would have five feet of fresh snow if the temperatures were just a few degrees colder. I love tennis and play three times a week when the body is willing. Eight days in the row without tennis, stuck in the house with two whining kids, an eternity of ugly skies forcing me to cut back on my ice-cream consumption (no exercise…no ice-cream) made me very unhappy. Then, it happened! Like a light at the end of a dark tunnel, the sun peeked through. The air warmed and the birds began to sing. The kids hit the yard, and I hit the tennis courts -- and that carton of ice-cream. When you lose something for a long time, you learn to appreciate it more. And that brings me to God. When the extreme surrounds us from all sides and threatens to derail our way of life, it is those times when we learn not to take the good times for granted. We learn to say thank you for the little things in life like a warm, sunny day, a butterfly floating on the breeze and the firefly lights dancing in the distance on a summer evening.

4. The weather also teaches us that we have no control over life. You can’t wish the rain away. No matter how hard you try, you can’t make a storm do what you want. The wind didn’t ask you which way to blow today, did it? No matter how badly you want snow, you are 100 percent powerless. You can't make it happen. As the biggest snow-lover on the East Coast, I hate this! God controls the destinies of man. Even though we cannot see Him face to face, His hand of intervention is everywhere for those who have humbled themselves before Him and have eyes to see and ears to hear the truths of scripture. When I realized I was powerless in so many different areas of my life, that was the moment when God began to teach me not only that He existed, but that He was intimately involved in every facet of my daily life. When I reached that point in my mid-20s, everything about my life changed. God could speak to my heart on a personal basis and began to change my thoughts, attitudes, desires and dreams.

God created the weather for a purpose. Open the eyes of your heart and begin to see things through a different set of eyes. I hope you can wake up tomorrow, glance out the window and smile no matter what you see.

Comments

[Mac Cosmetics]

Thank article is quite good

[greg windsor]

Dear Jon ,

I say Amen to everything in this post.
May God's blessings be with you.

G.Thomas Windsor
Author "Life is like a Weather Forecast"