Snow and Salvation

January 11, 2016

Buffalo getting hammered by lake effect snow is hardly news. The real news around here is that we didn't get much. It's amazing how localized the weather patterns can be. It came down pretty gently around here, with long stretches of clear but cloudy skies. The five or six inches on the ground kindly waited till after noon for me to wander outside to deal with it. My chair by the fire was a good place to read and pray; one nice thing about retirement is not having a schedule demanding that I be somewhere early on.

After plowing our driveway, I had time to drive the tractor to our son Matthew's place to clear out his parking spot, hitting Nathan's on the way home. Matt thanked me, but didn't need to; it was fun. During my working years, there were very few jobs of which I could say at the end, "It's done." Working with people is never done. Being a pastor is like playing a game of spiritual Whack-a-Mole. About the time you get one problem nailed down, another one pops up. I have no complaints, and only a few regrets, but it is nice to finish a job, look at it, and know that at least until the next snowfall, it's done. Now it's time to get back to reading and prayer.

The spiritual Whack-a-Mole game may be over for me as a pastor, but there are always issues within me that need constant attention lest they pop up and cause problems I don't need. Someone once said that many pastors go into the business to save their own souls, and I partly agree with that. By nature, I am not very disciplined, and the fact that Sundays came around with amazing regularity was a spiritual lifesaver for me, keeping me in the Word and prayer. In retirement, I have to create my own discipline, just like everyone else. I am grateful tonight for these spiritual disciplines and the time I have been given to attend to them. They are God's means of grace that keep my salvation current.