Feel free to comment on any essay.

Snowmen have notoriously short lives. 

 Their life expectancy varies with latitude, but it is rare for one to even last three months.  There is always the risk of bright sunshine and thawing temperatures. Even snow creations at high latitudes are vulnerable to freak rainstorms or neighbor children or March and April.  The effort to construct and care for them often seems wasted in the face of so short a lifespan.  The greater the investment of time spent building and playing with the snowman or snow fort, the more sorrow there will be at their demise. 

 Why do people bother to put themselves and their children through such an experience?

 Besides the fun involved and relationship building that coincide with the snow building, there is a deeper significance to our relationship with Frosty.  People are always testing and proving their creativity.  We take pride in our handiwork.  But even our greatest works will one day fade away and be forgotten. As we reflect upon our own mortality through the loss of our snow-person, it should give us cause to consider how short and fragile our own lives are in comparison to God and eternity.  

We would do well to remember the words of Jesus:

 Matt. 6:19-21

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (NIV)

It is because they have everything. 

The rich, famous and powerful have more experiences and opportunities available to them.  With more opportunity comes greater temptation.  A candy bar is tempting to someone who has no money, but it is even more tempting to someone with a few bucks burning a hole in their pocket.  The person with no money may steal it, but laws against theft will probably keep that candy on the shelf.  The person with money however, can indulge their desires legally. 

 Think of that the next time you are drooling over something in the checkout aisle.  

 Celebrities often become used to giving in to temptation since money is no object to them.  The more temptations an individual surrenders to, the more flexible the morals and "values" of that individual become.  If such a person is unable to maintain some level of self-control, it is only a matter of time before some socially offensive indulgence is revealed to the public. 

Fast fame and easy money don't give a person the opportunity to develop a balanced life of 'champagne riches and caviar dreams'.

Maybe it's a good thing you didn't win that big lottery jackpot.

An agnostic is a person who thinks that God may exist but doesn’t have enough evidence to worship or obey him.  Christian agnostics have some information about God but because they do not “earnestly seek him” they reveal that they do not really “believe that he exists”

 How can Christians claim to be following God yet not believe that he exists?  Their lack of God-focused actions (worship) reveals a lack of faith.  If God were to appear before them in physical form, a great increase of fervor and concern would come easily to them.  So then, how much evidence does it take to believe in God?  Is a beautiful sunset enough, or would the Gospel do it, or do you need a burning bush?  I believe the amount of evidence does not matter.  What matters is how we respond to the evidence we have already been given. 

 In the Gospel of John, chapter nine tells how Jesus healed a man born blind.  Before the miracle, Jesus calls himself the "Light of the World".  When investigating the miracle, the Jewish leaders say they don't know what has happened because the evidence (healing) does not match their belief (Jesus is evil).  They basically tell the man that he got lucky.  

Later, Jesus finds the healed man and asks him if he believes.  The man admits that he doesn't know who Jesus is but wants to.  It is then that Jesus is able to reveal his identity to the man.  The Jewish leaders had the same evidence as the blind man, yet they were blind to where the evidence was pointing.  The best response they had to the miracle was “we don’t know”.  This is the response of the agnostic to all evidence of God that does not match his or her desires.  

 What is the antidote for agnosticism?  

Seek to know Jesus!  The agnostic doesn’t know God because he or she doesn’t want to know him.  He is standing at the door, knocking.  He not only rules the universe; he is also seeking relationship with us in the Person of Jesus.  When we encounter Jesus, we need to admit our blindness and not turn away from him, the Light of the World.  For that light penetrates our blindness and allows us to see him and begin to know him.  If we open our lives up to him, he will reveal himself to us. 

  “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20 (NIV)

Many people begin to complain about the weather when it gets cloudy, gloomy, stormy, rainy, windy, foggy, snowy or cold.  Yet these same people may jump at the chance to praise God for a warm, sunny day.  This is something like grumbling through the turkey and dressing at Thanksgiving dinner just to get to the pie.  We don't have to like the rain or the cold to appreciate the God who sends it. 

 "From whose womb comes the ice?  Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?" Job 38:29-30 (NIV)

The Spirit of God is often described using weather terminology, such as a mighty wind.  God is wild and uncontrollable, he speaks out of the storm.  He is powerful and unpredictable.  When the weather is unpleasant we don't have to be thankful, but we can be reminded to worship.

 All of creation reveals his glory and his extravagant love for us.  We live on a jewel planet that is the only oasis we are certain exists in the midst of a vast universe.  While there may be others, they are far beyond our reach.  We must settle for the table he has prepared for us, and it is a feast.

Blizzard anyone?

Enjoy!