Why Is It Snowing in April??!!!
By: C.N.
Oh, you thought Winter was over? *Cue the sarcastic, somewhat creepy laughter for 4 minutes straight* As I look out of my window at 8:35 a.m., what do I see? SNOW! That’s right! Nice, white, soft, fluffy snow is coming down harder than the basketball rim came down when Shaquille O’Neal dunked on it back in the day (that’s when he was playing with the Orlando Magic-the man actually broke the backboard). My calendar says that today is April 17, 2020, and the high temperature for today will be a whopping 38 degrees (get your swimsuits ready!)! By all accounts, it is going to be a cold day today. However, it is actually springtime, as we have seen temperatures as high as 80 degrees over the past three weeks. You might be asking yourself, “is it hot, or is it cold? I can’t really tell.” This idea of not picking a side bothers God.
God is a kind God; God is a loving God; God is a patient God; God is a giving God; but God is also a jealous God. Throughout the Bible, God makes clear that he wants us to put him first, and to worship him ALONE. God wants us to be “all in” for him; he doesn’t want us to place anyone or anything above him, and he certainly doesn’t want us to play the fence. Let’s take a look at a few key scriptures:
Deuteronomy 6:13-14 (KJV): Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
Exodus 34:14 (KJV): For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
2 Kings 17:35-36 (KJV): with whom the Lord made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
Exodus 20:3 (KJV): “You shall have no other gods before Me
Deuteronomy 5:7 (KJV):‘You shall have no other gods before Me
Revelations 3:15-16 (KJV): I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
WOW! God has a way of speaking, doesn’t he? He wants us to worship him and him alone-not money, fame, fortune, food, celebrities, athletes, cars, shoes, girls (or guys), drugs, alcohol, partying, TV, or anything else. God alone deserves to be worshiped and praised. God also wants us to be “all in” for him-he wants us to be ON FIRE for Jesus, ON FIRE for truth, ON FIRE for living the right way, ON FIRE for loving and helping our fellow man. God doesn’t want us to have one foot in the church, and one foot in the world (like going to Bible study every Wednesday night, but being “sick” on Sunday morning because we want to watch the Bears v. Packers game). Matthew 6:24 makes clear that we can’t serve two masters:
Matthew 6:24 (KJV): No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
By definition, when we don’t fully give our lives over to God, but we want to worship him “sometimes,” or in “some ways,” or we only want to stop doing “certain” bad things, we aren’t hot for God-Team Jesus, or cold toward God-Team Satan; we’re right in the middle, which God calls lukewarm. As we see from Revelations 3:15-16 above, God wants us to pick a side, because if we don’t, he will “spue thee out of my mouth,” which is just a fancy way of saying he will throw us up, as if he never knew us. Ouch! Some may think God is being harsh here, but he really isn’t. God has given us EVERYTHING, including the very air that we breathe, and he just wants to know that we appreciate him for everything that he has done for us. To be clear, God is NOT saying that we can’t enjoy food, sports, or money; he’s saying that none of these things should matter to us MORE THAN GOD, we should not WORSHIP these things or people, and we should not be willing to do bad things (like steal or kill) in order to get these things. God loved us so much that he sent his darling son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die for us, that if we believed in Jesus and followed him, we would be with him in Heaven forever (paraphrasing John 3:16). Let’s be hot for God and give Satan the cold shoulder. Just as we all look forward to having consistent, nice weather in April, let’s be consistent in our love and devotion to God. I love you all, God bless you all, and let’s all sing it together, “snow, snow, go away, come again on Christmas Day!”
-C.N.
I think it’s quite controversial that you say God is a Jealous God! I can understand why you say it because he wants us to pick sides and insists upon it.
Surely Jealousy would be classed as a sin. But God wants us to follow him, and common sense would say he would lead by example.
But of course he doesn’t lead by example really. He teaches what is right or wrong and punishes those that are wrong in cruel ways sometimes. Yet if we followed that path , we would be wrong.
As you can probably guess I am sceptic , but actually I am Buddhist! I believe in the middle way. It has actually similar contradictions to the ones mentioned above that took me away from Christianity and towards the more peaceful philosophy of Buddhism.
All religions teach a version of ‘love thy neighbour’, but I believe the only one to truly practice it is Buddhism. I say that because I cannot find a war that was fought under the name of Buddhism? yes Buddhists fight but not under the name of their philosophy.
I would be interested in your thoughts on this ?
Thank you so much for your comment, Lawrence! Firstly, I welcome all opinions, regardless of whether they match my opinions or not. While jealousy is a sin and God is not a God of flaws, he wants us to recognize that he created us, he created this world, and he is the source of every good thing that we have in our lives. God is not jealous in the sense that he’s going to try to make others look bad or do harm to them because people have an interest in them, but rather, he doesn’t want us to worship the creation over the Creator. God does teach us right from wrong, but to your point about him punishing us if we’re wrong-God is a patient God, and gives us countless opportunities to repent, turn away from our sins/wickedness, turn to Jesus Christ, and follow him. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us, that we would have a chance to be reconciled to him and spend eternity in Heaven. God will wait for us to change, but if he sees that we’re not listening, won’t listen, and don’t care to listen, he will sometimes shake things up to get our attention. I completely understand where you’re coming from about God being cruel and allowing certain things to happen-there are some things about God that we don’t understand, and may not understand until we get to Heaven (if we knew everything about God, he wouldn’t be God; we are not to lean to our own understanding). I’d be lying to you if I said I never wonder why certain things happen, but I know that God has a divine plan, and if we trust in him and keep the faith, he’ll reveal things to us, including why things have happened the way that they have, in time. God teaches love, and the two most important commandments are for us to 1) Love God, and 2) love our neighbors as we love ourselves. When we follow these two commandments (my pastor calls them the “Twin Commandments”), all of the other commandments will fall into place. While many wars have been fought in the name of God, God does not approve of us hating and hurting each other for his name’s sake. The people who have waged war against others in the name of God are not true children of the Most High and do not have an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ preaches love, peace, and helping one another, not tearing one another down. I shake my head at these religious wars as well. I respect everyone’s beliefs, even if they differ from my own, but I know for myself that Jesus Christ is real, he’s the Lord and Savior of the world, and he’s coming back for his church and his children. I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in. Please feel free to respond! I’m more than happy to talk to you! God bless you!
This website might actually be the cutest thing ever. I was never a religious person, but your posts definitely made me think that if I had kids, I’d read them everything you wrote here. (except the creepy laughter part haha) I can tell you’re passionate about this topic so keep writing fun articles! 🙂
Thank you so much, Lulia! God bless you!
Really interesting insights in this article. Really cool the way you use the weather to talk about God, did not see that coming haha!
Great article, keep it up!
Thank you so much, Duni! I love to be creative when talking about Jesus. Haha God bless you!
Hi there,
Another great little story, it’s also refreshing for parents to read new stories that they don’t know the ending to. E.g. everyone’s read the usual Goldilocks story, but this is something new and refreshing. Well done.
Thank you so much, Sharon! There will be plenty more coming. God bless you!
Hi,
Firstly, I must say what a wonderful way with words you have.
You certainly had me entranced.
I’m starting to think your website should have the tagline, “Bedtime stories for children and ADULTS of all ages”.
Your analogy of the current springtime weather along with the scripture of Matthew 6:24 (KJV): No man can serve two masters… makes perfect sense and is an easy lesson for any child to understand.
What an absolute pleasure to read.
Thank you and God bless
Partha
Thank you so much, Partha! I am certainly writing for children and adults alike! I’m going to change the tagline now. Haha God bless you!
I love the way you tie in the weather with our hot or cold relationship with God. It’s so true that he wants us all in for him, not lukewarm. It can be so easy to get sidetracked with things in this life that we can get lazy with our faith. God has been speaking to me about this a lot lately, with all the time at home we’ve had. We may not be able to go to church right now, but we should be connecting with God all the time, not just in church anyway. Great post!
Thank you so much Carla! While God did not bring about this pandemic, he is certainly using it to get our attention. We all struggle with our faith at times, but the more that we learn and grow in Jesus Christ, the easier it is for us to fully devote ourselves to him. Even though we’re at home, we can still pray, read our Word, and conduct Bible Study and church services online. Now is also the perfect time to minister to our unsaved friends, family, and loved ones, as there are a lot less distractions, due to this pandemic. God will get the glory, no matter what. Haha God bless you!
Well about the weather first. I live in Finland and we have actually had a very warm and sunny spring, which is welcome because of the pandemic. It would be normal to have a meter of snow at this point, but we actually have almost none.
Now for the theological implications. I’m not a devout Christian but I do belong in the church. I was an atheist for a long time but in recent years I have found home in theological and spiritual concepts that aren’t that far from the teachings of the Bible but there is one key difference.
I believe we are all god. The whole creation is god, we are all a unity. Our own ego is what creates the illusion of separation. This is the source of all evil, and I, in fact, believe that the Bible is trying to convey this concept. If you realize that everything is you and you are everything, “love thy neighbor” gets a whole new meaning. That’s why I don’t think this is contradictory to the teachings of the bible, or most religions for that matter. But there is one key difference. I do not believe in a personified God that dictates rules. God is something more abstract, beyond our comprehension. It is not a male or a female and there are not several gods. It just is, in everything. That said I do respect everyone’s theological beliefs as long as they don’t cause harm to others and thank you for the food for thought!
Thank you so much, Jukka! I live in Chicago, and our weather doesn’t know what it wants to do at times; we just take it for what it is. Haha When we repent of our sins, believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and ask Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior (and to clean us up), the Holy Spirit dwells within us, which is literally God living inside of us. God created this entire world and everything in it, and we are all here for a specific purpose and to fulfill a specific calling. God is love, and we are to love, respect and help our fellow man. I respect everyone’s beliefs as well, and I want us to be able to come together in God’s love, regardless of our differences. God bless you!
Great article, C.N!
Yes I have also had snow in April this year, a bit off-putting but a reminder that someone greater is in control.
I love the passion in your writing about God and faith. It is a great example to follow.
I look forward to reading more of your articles, as another religious person.
Thank you so much, Bryce! God bless you!
I love the way you convey your interpretations of scripture with so much levity – and using the weather, no less! Very clever and helps me understand scripture better.
Thank you for sharing your valuable perspective on faith. I appreciate your lighthearted but astute viewpoints. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much, Kris! I certainly will! God bless you!
A very interesting post? something that has been on my mind because of what I hear people saying with the pandemic happening… Christians must believe that this pandemic, climate change, meteor impact, and other natural disasters will not end the world. Christians should live in faith that the world will not come to an end until after Jesus returns and the rapture begins.
There is nothing to fear unless you don’t believe and you end up living during the tribulations. Maybe “through” the tribulations is a better word to use, but then again… maybe the world doesn’t make it through the tribulations and there is nothing in existence after that.
Doesn’t matter because if you live in faith, the the tribulations is nothing for you to be concerned about.
What are your thoughts??
Thank you so much for your comment, Greg! I completely agree with you that if we truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and truly believe what we sing, pray about, and preach about, we don’t have anything to worry about. God does not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. If we have asked Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior, we know that we are covered in his blood, and he will put a hedge of protection around us (Psalms 91). I’m not concerned with the pandemic at all. Though God did not cause this pandemic, he is using it to get our attention, and I’m listening. God bless you!
I love your writing style. And I do agree that God wants us to pick a side. I must say that I do battle with that alot. I have to make choices that I don’t want too. Like, should I go to services or adhere to the government lockdown. Luckily there is technology that allows us to worship from our computers. But is it really the same as going to services? For me I just say an extra prayer at bedtime. That way it helps me worship God and he won’t be too jealous. Thanks for sharing such an insightful article.
Thank you so much, Courtney! We all struggle with our faith at times, and in times such as these, where our faith is being tested, we must decide who we worship-God or Satan. I don’t agree with church services being shut down (God’s House is the most essential service that there will ever be), but the Bible tells us to use wisdom, and to obey the law, as long as it doesn’t conflict with God’s word. I like my church’s online services, but nothing beats being in the actual house of the Lord, feeling, touching, praising and worshiping God in person (thank you, Jesus!). God did not bring this pandemic about, but he is using it to get our attention, and I’m listening. Prayer works! Bible study works! Worshiping God, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, works! God is good! God bless you!
Where my parents live, they are still having snow there. I am very fortunate to be able to enjoy the beautiful weather is here in D.C. I was never a religious person but I found your article very interesting and insightful. I can see you are very passionate about this topic. I have also checked out your other articles and really liked them as well. Keep up with the good work.
Thank you so much, Hong! I live in the Chicagoland area, and we definitely get plenty of snow, and plenty of wind (hence, the reason why Chicago is called the “Windy City.” Haha). I respect everyone’s beliefs, but I know for myself that Jesus Christ is real, he died on the cross for my sins, he rose on the 3rd day with all power in his hands, he’s in Heaven at the right hand of God Almighty, and that he’s coming back for his church and his children. God bless you!
I beleive all major religions, (buddism being one of them..I’m not a buddist though I did practise a bit of buddist meditation) are from one Divine Source. Each religion is a piece of a jig saw puzzle, a beautful piece in it’s own sense, but only when you put all the pieces together, can you see the whole picture. Although I’m not a Christian, I remember reading a children’s bible with all the stories and pictures in it when I was a kid and really enjoyed it. The stories in the Bible are the same stories in the Quraan, so it was so refreshing to hear them again. I beleive the scriptures actually confirm each other from different angles (pieces of the jigsaw pizzle) its only when you are looking for common ground is when you can see this, when you look for differences you will mis the point of the excercise and gave up on the jigsaw puzzle because you beleived the piece will never fit! I though I’d share that with you as I’m sure you can tell it came from the heart 🙂 Well done for reminding kids about the stories in Bible! Why not do a post confirming the same stories from other scriptures to confirm ? Just a thought thag came to me. God bless!
Thank you so much for your comment, Mo! I also believe that across religious denominations, we have a lot more in common than we think. I know for myself that God is real, Jesus Christ is real, Jesus died for my sins and rose again, and that he’s coming back for his church and his children. God created this world and everything in it for his glory; we are all here for a reason and have a specific calling on our lives. When we allow God to use us, amazing things happen. God bless you!
Hey there! I really enjoyed your article, I found it refreshing how you’ve blended lessons on Christianity with your own modern twist! That Shaq dunk came out of no where! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much, James! God bless you!
Hello, what a lovely cheery website. I love the photo of the dolls representing people and cultures of the world.
Thank you so much, Michelle! God bless you!
I love the cheery way that you have written this article. Nice use of words here.
I appreciate you bringing a Catholic perspective to the matter, and keep up the great work with these articles!
-Joseph
Thank you so much, Joseph! God bless you!
Thank you for sharing. as a school teacher, I am always on the lookout for new books. I will bookmark this site for future reference. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Catherine! I really appreciate it! God bless you!