I Told You Not To Wear Your Shorts!

I was sitting down this afternoon enjoying the warm spurt that we have been having in the middle of October, when I thought of a couple more weather adventures that I had as a newbie in Oklahoma.  The first one was actually what had predicated my initial incorrect response to the snow storm I had mentioned in yesterday’s post (see “Today’s Weather” posted on 10/17/11).  It occurred on Thanksgiving Day 2006.  After my wife, our two kids and I had celebrated a quiet but still delicious turkey dinner, we got on the phone and called all of our relatives in California.  In talking to the folks on the other end, I began to brag about how the four of us were all wearing shorts and enjoying a pretty warm time in the Sooner state, while the family in northern California was experiencing the normal cold and wet weather pattern for that time of year.  If I had taken the projected snow-storm weather broadcast more seriously, I definitely would have kept my mouth shut!

The other event had occurred a number of weeks previous to the warm weather that had announced the beginning of our first Holiday season in Oklahoma.  When I had left for work in the garden department at the South Tulsa Home Depot, the temperature was typically warm (or so I thought…) so I wore my regular outfit of shorts and a polo shirt that had kept me relatively comfortable and cool throughout the hot summer months.  What I had not quite understood was the projected change in the weather that was forecast for the early afternoon.  I normally kept a light pull over sweater in my locker at work and felt assured that it would be all that was necessary, especially since I had not taken it out of the locker for the three months we had been there.  Well, by now you probably know what I am going to tell you!  Sure enough, around 2:00 in the afternoon the wind picked up, the clouds blew in and within about an hour I was freezing in my shorts and light sweater!

There were a few cashiers who had braved the cold front with me (in their heavy winter coats – I might add!) in the outside garden center on that crazy Saturday, that never let me forget my “California ways!”

So what’s my point?  Well, besides the advice to always keep a coat in your car, I am reminded once again, that things in this natural life can change in a moment's notice, but God’s word is always the same!  It is like that rock that I mentioned yesterday.  James 1:17 says that “The Father doesn’t change like the shifting shadows produced by the sun and moon.”  (Gods Word ©)  In fact it goes on to say that “God decided to give us life through the word of truth…”  (James 1:18 Gods Word ©)  In other words, He wanted to give us a secure and stable way of life that we could depend on, no matter what else was changing around us.

Not that’s what I call a reliable forecast that we can depend on for the length of our days!  Over the three years that we resided in Oklahoma, I learned how to read the direction of the winds and to know if it was going to be a cold or warmer front that was blowing in.  I learned to give the weather reports a little more credence and to dress appropriately.  I got pretty good at my timing in getting anything that could be damaged by a summer storm undercover inside the store before the sudden heavy rains struck.  The one thing that I never quite mastered though, was driving the forklift in the snow!  (but that's another whole story...)

The other more decisive thing that I learned, was to implicitly trust in what God’s word said, no matter what the physical evidence looked like!  I am still amazed at all the times that His blessings came through, just as we needed them, during those three years in Tulsa while I went to Bible School.  And you know what?  He is just the same now as He was back then!  (see Hebrews 13:8), and if He does it for me, He’ll do it for you (see Acts 10:34).  Give Him a try… You’ll never be the same again!  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”