Reflections on Recent Snow Falls

The recent snow storm named Blair dumped incredible amounts of snow stretching across the Midwest from Kansas into the Ohio Valley.

Norma Jean and I watched the news accounts from the warmth of our Florida family room reminiscing about places where we’ve lived and experienced snow storms.

Our first winter in Ohio back in 1970 was Norma’s very first taste of snow. Living in Hillsboro and Kettering we saw snow. Lots of snow. It was also Norma’s first exposure to driving in snow that landed her in a ditch on a country road.

The six years we lived in Louisville were actually fun filled snow years, because we had moved from Florida, and the kids got their first exposure. Of course, they had a ball.

Living in Columbia, Tennessee, also provided some snow memories. Especially the time we got caught in a snow storm on the way to Florida in March of 1993. Birmingham, Alabama, got hit with a record snow fall,  and we got trapped in the little town of Moulton, Alabama. We spent the night in a 1960’s style motel.  The next morning we opened the door to a four foot snow drift.  Eventually, we had to turn around and go back home.

Then our first year in Kansas City back in 2012, and actually every year we lived there, we witnessed some pretty impressive snow falls. We found a picture of Norma seeming to enjoy the snow.

We joke now about enjoying watching it on TV, instead of living in it. However, we learned to embrace it. And, I think, at the time, even enjoy it. I remember reading this little quote that reminds us of the importance of our attitude regardless of the circumstances, even in a snow storm.

I recall looking out the back of our property when we lived in Missouri and seeing the snow covered trees. One snow sticks in my mind of looking out the living room window one night and seeing how bright everything looked behind our house. The snow was so intense in color that it looked like day light.

But do you know what’s whitter and brighter than snow?

In the Bible the prophet Isaiah tells us. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow…” (1:18).

Sin is black. Ugly. Dirty. Sin stains the soul. Soils the heart. Scars the conscience.

The Bible calls sin unrighteousness. Lawlessness. Transgression. (I Jn. 3:5; I Jn 5:17; Heb. 8:12).

Sin hurts. It hurts homes where there is infidelity and immorality. It hurts churches where their is envy and jealousy. It hurts communities where there is crime and wickedness. Sin disquiets the spirit. Troubles the mind and breaks hearts.

Sin is sickening. Disgusting. Reprehensible. The Bible pictures sin with metaphors that depict its utter putridity.

Peter writes that sin is like a sow that is washed. You know one that is a prized pig that you show at the fair. He’s cleansed. Scrubbed. Groomed. Ready to parade before the judges. Then he wanders off and wallows in the muck and mire of a mud puddle. Now he’s filthy. That’s sin.

But in the midst of sin’s darkening effects and influences, there is good news. You can be cleansed from sin! How clean? Whiter than snow. And no one knows better than King David.

Following his sins of lust, adultery and deceit, David repented and in the Psalms wrote an honest, heart-rending confession. He begged God’s mercy. Forgiveness. Restoration. And he received it. So he says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps 51:7).

How can I, a frail, feeble and sinful being, be whiter than snow?

To a man named Saul who opposed Christianity and was an accessory to killing Christians, the preacher Ananias offered this invitation. “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).

Saul’s sins were washed away in baptism. Is there power in the water? No. There is power in the blood. John wrote, “Grace to you and peace…from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth…who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:4-5).

Yes, ironically, it is the blood that cleanses. The royal, ruby blood of Jesus can make you whiter than snow.

In the words of the 19th century song writer, James L. Nicholson, this is my plea and prayer.

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to live in my soul;
Break down every idol, cast out every foe—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman