Is the Weather Forecast Like Prophecy?

A Snowball’s Chance…
A devotional by Dave Knickerbocker

Can you believe that this is what April looks like in Youngstown, OH? After all the weeks of warm weather, we thought we’d gotten away with a mild snow season. Well . . . we were right. April may have looked like this other years, but this picture isn’t a current picture. This picture’s not even taken in April. It’s not even near Youngstown.

Many residents of the Mahoning Valley were expecting a wintery onslaught today. The past few days we’ve been bombarded with radar images and descriptions of what the future would hold from those paid to warn us of impending weather catastrophes. Once again, they failed miserably. Our kids were preparing for a snow day today because of the promised 10″ or more of snow to our area.

As I type this sentence, there’s literally not a cloud in the sky.

I’ve often wondered if an apology would ever be forthcoming from the experts who manage to get it so wrong. Today there hasn’t even been a mention of how wrong they were. It seems like society has become accustomed to the inaccuracies. Not me. I still find is amazing that the current temperature being reported is several degrees different from the temperature being displayed at the bottom of the screen by that very news channel. Or, when I’m driving in the same town that the radio station is in, sometimes they say it’s currently sunny, but the sky I see is full of clouds. They depend so much on all the weather equipment when sometimes all they have to do is look out the window. If they can’t get that right, it’s hard for me to believe them other times.

I get that it’s a hard job. Weather is terribly unpredictable, like rest of life. It reminds me of a fact I’ve heard about the odds of all the predictions of the Old Testament coming true. It’s a ratio of some-stupidly-large-number-with-lots-of-commas-and-zeros to one. Somebody said it would be like the state of Texas being filled in quarters a foot deep, you being blindfolded and given the task of finding one specific quarter. Yet, Jesus fulfills every single one of those prophecies.

So, I find it interesting that people plan their lives around what the weather person says yet ignore what the Bible says. I’m not just talking about the impending doom of people who do evil, but the awesome lives his children could have now by letting Jesus lead the way in our lives. After all, our weather forecasters get it wrong at least as much as they get it right.

The Bible is batting a thousand.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

(John 10:10, NIV)

Dave Knickerbocker has planted two churches with his wife, Vanda. They are waiting for God to reveal their next church planting opportunity in Northeast Ohio, while Dave is working on getting his first book published.

Follow his blog: daveknickerbocker.wordpress.com

Editor’s Note:  Dave is one of my former pastors.  My husband and I were blessed to assist him as he started a church plant in Rochester, NY over twelve years ago.

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