Winter storm watch

At the bottom of my computer screen is a number that changes throughout the day; it's a live-temperature reading that tells me how warm or cold it is outside. Today that number is set in a background of orange, an indication that there is a weather alert I should know about. When I click on it I'm told we're under a winter storm watch. Tomorrow could bring two or three inches of snow.

 

The emphasis is on the word "could". A "watch" means that conditions are favorable to this weather event happening. As we all know, however, conditions change. If the alert told me of a storm "warning", the situation is more serious for the storm has actually developed and is heading my way.

 

Folks in my region are likely going to pay more attention to today's storm watch. Last week at this time we were told of approaching snow. I confess to having the attitude of "Yeah, right. We've heard this story before." I was going to believe a snow storm when I actually saw it.

 

I became a believer. Thursday afternoon the snow fell with unusual intensity. Within two or three hours we had four to five inches on the ground and driving became a nightmare. Traffic on the Interstate ground to a halt as commuters who left work early rushed to get home. Cars were stranded everywhere and stories were plentiful about hardships encountered.

 

Last week's experience has made many of us here in the Tri-Cities Region more likely to prepare for what may come our way tomorrow. Yes, it's only a watch, but we won't be caught unprepared.

 

Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was given a warning (not a watch) of disaster at hand. One of the angels whose mission was to rescue Lot said this: "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it" (Genesis 19:13).

 

Lot believed this warning, but he received a different reaction from his sons- in-law: "... But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking" (Genesis 19:14). Needless to say, when the conflagration came upon Sodom, only Lot and his two daughters survived. Unbelievers did not.

 

Peter warns us of an event in the future that will eclipse any disaster earth has known: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10). Sodom's destruction will seem like a picnic in the park compared to this event.

 

Here then is the big question: Do we believe Peter's warning? Or do we respond similarly to those sons-in-law of Lot, who scoffed at the idea of fire and brimstone raining down upon them? Would it make any difference if we believed or not?

 

One word of hope is given by Peter in the previous chapter: "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly ..." (2 Peter 2:9). The Lord knew how to deliver Lot from Sodom's destruction; He knew how to spare Noah from the flood that covered the entire earth. He knows how to save those of us who will put our trust in Him and in His Son.

 

The warnings have been posted. Will we take them seriously?

 

Timothy D. Hall