Stormy Weather

Hey, I think we’re in danger of having an avalanche in Oklahoma! What else am I to think when I see a giant snow mountain to rival an Alpine ski slope in the Walmart parking lot being encircled by police tape! In fact, there was a regular range of those mountains, all scraped up after our record snow fall, and not having diminished over the past frigid week.

I can imagine the worries of authorities about the dangers of mountain climbing by bored kids who are seemingly coming out of the woodwork since schools are closed. After all, mountains are not something seen here on the plains. And if that snow is as puffy as it was three days ago, a kid could sink into its depths and not be found until the Spring thaw, which may be a melt down akin to the melting of the Polar Ice Cap!

Today we met two teen girls carrying snow spades, giggling as they huffed and puffed, running up the middle of a snow-packed street. They were no doubt looking for walks and drives to clear of the still mostly undisturbed blanket of white. Neighborhood sidewalks are impassable, so the street is now the pedestrian thoroughfare.

Not a sticky snow, efforts at snowman construction from the fluffy flakes usually yield disappointing results. The occasional odd attempt standing in a yard is usually small and wimpy. However, I spotted a seven-foot creation a few blocks away today with a fiercely determined stance, reminiscent of a drunk trying to keep his balance. A lot of work had gone into him, judging from all those dirty, hand-size hollows patted and pounded into his surface with obvious effort.

The weather has been a headline maker this week. I saw one newspaper that heralded in 2 inch letters of neighboring Bartlesville, one of the coldest in the state: “BRRRRTLESVILLE!” Snowfall was not the only headline maker in the news today, however, but a fall of a different kind: the Egyptian government, for better or for worse. It is getting to be a strange world we live in--erratic weather, unstable governments, and any number of other uncertainties. Thankfully, we have a Shelter from these times of storm that appear on the horizon. We can be safe in the hollow of a Hand that is sufficient for all who want to make Him their refuge.