Thoughts on the weather

God sent rain today.  We saw the drizzle.  We felt the mist.  While installing fence posts, the water seeped through the seams of my clothes and my gloves.  It felt good.  I was reminded of common grace and common sense.

I was reminded of common grace, for we read that “… he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). So much grace abounds around us each day.  Those that are drawn to God and walk by the Spirit of God do, indeed, recognize it.  Those who say, in various ways, “there is no God” are also those of whom it said, “there is no fear of God before their eyes”.  Those who do not see, nay, cannot see, the common grace of God, for they are blinded, can neither see the special works or the signs of God as being from God.

This is the sense of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Matthew 16.  More in a moment.  So we were pounding posts on Friday night.  Well, Laurel was pounding, Linden was measuring, and I was digging.  Anyway, at some point, the subject of Saturday’s weather  apparently surfaced in their conversation.  Linden, with an elephantine memory, nodded toward the evening sky and the color thereof.  He mentioned, rather offhandedly, it seems, that the little ditty about “red sky in morning, sailors take warning…” was actually from the Bible.  A little discussion ensued, and  they both came to me for the final verdict of whether it was, or was not, from the Bible.  I was actually impressed that Linden remembered a conversation we’d had at least five years ago.  I had mentioned, then, as I recall, that some of the common sayings and phrases in our English language are very similar or word for word quotations from our English Bible.

I replied that, in actual fact, “Red sky in morning/sailors take warning/Red sky at night/sailors delight” was not a direct quote, and I couldn’t pinpoint the reference, but Jesus had said something similar in one of the Gospels.  We discussed the reason why Jesus said what he did, or rather, the point he made to the Pharisees.  Then, later that night, I looked up the phrase, and found the actual reference.

Back to Matthew 16, what Jesus said  in Matthew 16:3 (KJV), was “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” I suppose it is similar to what Jesus said to Nicodemus about his failure to understand physical phenomena, like the wind, and his greater failure to understand the workings of the Spirit of God.  Since “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen” and “they are without excuse”, the one who is able to read physical signs should, as a next step, have the spiritual ability to understand that these are but signs pointing the way to God.

And yet, the Pharisees “tempted him, seeking a sign”.  They sought a sign, but wouldn’t have believed anything he might have given them.  They did not have eyes to see that which already pointed to God, nor did they have ears to hear that which was already spoken of God.  In a very real and critical way, these so-called spiritual leaders demonstrated what one wag said about “common sense” when he said it was actually rather uncommon.  That which they should have known and seen, they neither knew nor saw.  “Common sense” in spiritual terms is also not really so common.  Indeed, it is quite uncommon, for a God-ward sense of our world is given by God, and not created by flesh.  Spiritual common sense that speaks of the knowledge of God, is only by the Spirit of God.

It is amazing how thoughts on the weather can so easily rise above small talk.  May God give His children sharper vision with which to see Him, and discerning ears with which to hear Him.

Contrasts

Spring or Fall.  Summer or Winter.  Construction or lousy roads.  Time or Money.  Working on the road or Working on call.  It seems like it is never possible to have the best of all worlds.  I have to say, though, I’ve been very blessed for the last several months.  I trust my family would agree.

In April, after returning from Kansas City for my third session of signal apprenticeship training (only one more to go), I had the opportunity to work with another crew member on a project detached from the bigger project in the Twin Cities.  It meant driving 1 1/2 hours one way between home and Litchfield, and it was tiring.  I was able to make the drive safely every day, though, and only had to stay in the hotel a couple of nights.  The benefit for me and my family, on the other hand, was seeing each other every day, even though I was gone from 5 AM until 8 or 9 PM.

In May, I filled in for a signal maintainer working out of Willmar.  Again, for various reasons, I had some really long days.  I had more 12-hour work days (plus the travel back to the shop, and from there to home) than I’d care to count.  And, yet, arriving home bone-weary night after night, it was still a delight to eat meals at home, take my lunches each day, and celebrate the daily events together.  Even when I had to work on Saturdays, or a trouble call came on Sunday afternoon, I enjoyed the work and the ability to work near home.  I confess I appreciated the first check, too.

The week following Memorial Day was also a time of contrasts.  I had really wanted to attend a gathering of conservative Christians in the Twin Cities.  The logistics of a large family making such a trek and figuring out how we would do chores was too much.  It was that, and the reality that we had many critical-path tasks for our family.  As God would have it, I had the opportunity to use some vacation so we were able to get much work done as a family.  It was a very enjoyable week of tilling, planting, and fencing (think over 100 5.5-foot t-posts and close to 20 wood posts that were eight feet long and five inches across).  If I had been thinking better early in the week of how the tiller should attach to the ATV, we might have accomplished more, but it was still great.  It was a week of hard, physical labor contrasted with a couple of nights sitting around the fire pit as a family.

Well, after that week, I was prepared to head back to the Cities.  Instead, I had the opportunity to work this week relatively near home, again.  I filled in for a different signal maintainer.  It’s been an intense week of work; a lot of learning and valuable experience, on the one hand, and much repetition of tasks I already know, on the other hand.  Learning in two modes, one might say.  I still have over an hour of drive time each way (in fact, that is why I’ll be soon heading to bed, only to rise again at 4:30 a.m.), but I have much satisfaction in sleeping in my own bed, in my own house, and near my own family.  It is, and has been, worth the extra effort.

It is not that I look down upon my city friends and acquaintances, but I definitely enjoy the wide-open spaces and the big expanse of sky over the lure of the skyscrapers amid the tunnels and canyons of the metro.  This is where I definitely breathe more easily.

Fare thee well, until the next post, and may God be praised.

–The Paulsonian