My husband and I spent the weekend watching our grandchildren at their house while Carissa and Garrett went to the hospital early Friday morning to have their fourth child.
The boys were thrilled. They love to play card games with us, and watch their favorite movies. Oldest grandson in this family, Roen, who’s ten, absolutely loves to talk about volcanos. So each morning, we watched another sci-fi volcano movie. These movies usually go like this: they introduce the handsome but maverick scientist. He’s smarter than the other scientists. He knows that something rally bad is brewing under the earth. Unfortunately, even though he has a proven track record of predicting eruptions based on good science, no one listens to him. Until …
The rest of the movie depicts the consequences for the town nearest the spewing volcano. The unwise townspeople and the stupid scientists trusted in their emotions of security and complacency. They failed to listen to the voice of authority.
The message from the movie maker seems clear to us lay people: Don’t trust the authorities. They’re a bit dull. They say things we don’t like to hear. They get things wrong.
That’s Hollywood for you. Anti-authority. Sensationalists. Emotional.
Yet, in the real world, we need those dull scientists with all their meters and mathematical calculations. They tend to be correct. We rely on them to predict a bad snow storm, or an approaching hurricane or tornado.
Today, in Wyoming (Colorado, too) we’ve been warned of an approaching big snow. The lady at the clinic told me today we should expect 44 inches of snow. And Estes Park, up in the Rockies, is supposed to get 91 inches!
But I’m looking out my window, and except for occasional patches of clouds drifting by, the sky doesn’t look threatening. In fact, it’s about 40 degrees this afternoon. It would be easy to ignore such a storm warning. At times the sky seemed almost as blue as this photo of the Tetons.
What do you think? Should I poo-poo the weather prediction?
Or should I stock up on milk and cereal and cat litter?
I don’t know about you, but when my life depends on it, I’m going to listen to the experts. No trusting my puny senses.
The Word of God is often like a weather expert, warning us of trends, of hot and cold fronts, of potential spiritual or economic tornadoes or floods.
It warns me of things I cannot see. And I’ve learned from experience not to poo-poo its words.
I need to believe what God says and not rely on my emotions or my faulty perceptions. That can get me into trouble.
This is one of my favorite Bible verses: “For we live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Cor. 5:7)
I guess another way of saying this is by quoting this famous verse in Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all your might and lean not on your own insight. In all our ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3: 5,6)
