After a short break, snow has returned to the fair city of Cardiff. Indeed it is falling from the sky as I write this from my desk in the Ignite office. In a act of sheer pig headedness I decided to head to the office. There were two real reasons one quite practical, the other very male! Firstly, I needed to get petrol and pick up various supplies for the Street Pastors shift tonight. The other was that I just wanted to prove I could do it!

It a fact that snow always catches people out in the UK. It is always like we did not expect it however much the weather forecasters have told us that it is on its way. Last night on the news I heard a newscaster say "The unseasonal weather will continue througho ut the weekend". Is it just me or is that a ridiculous thing to say? We live in Europe and its winter, what is the right season for snow if it's not winter?

Schools are closed, roads are packed with slow moving traffic and no doubt supermarkets will be crowded with people buying supplies in case this weather lasts for the whole winter! Tomorrow a young couple from Ignite, Mark and Meg are getting married and whilst the snow will make for stunning photos I pray that the weather will not cause travel problems for those who are intending to attend this most special of days.

I did a quick search through the bible around the word 'snow'. many would know that it talks of our sins being washed as white as snow. As I look out on the car park from my window, that seems even more remarkable than normal. If we consider our lives in the imagery that is sometimes used to illustrate the tarred lungs of a smoker (gross I know but are you getting it?) then imagine the fact that the blood of Jesus transforms this to being as white as snow. My previous blog amply illustrates that His blood will never fail us. Incredible, I think!

Then there is the fact that God has dominion over the weather:

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; 
   he does great things beyond our understanding. 
   He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ 
   and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ 
  So that everyone he has made may know his work, 
   he stops all people from their labor. 
  The animals take cover; 
   they remain in their dens. 
  The tempest comes out from its chamber, 
   the cold from the driving winds. 
   The breath of God produces ice, 
   and the broad waters become frozen. 
   He loads the clouds with moisture; 
   he scatters his lightning through them. 
   At his direction they swirl around 
   over the face of the whole earth 
   to do whatever he commands them. 
   He brings the clouds to punish people, 
   or to water his earth and show his love.

 Job 37: 5-13

Last year I did a tour with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound . As we arrived in each country in Europe it was covered in snow. On one date we arrived in Copenhagen. Sat in the taxi talking with the driver I mentioned the fact that it was -10 and there was snow on the ground. "When did this weather start?" I asked. "The day the world leaders came to Copenhagen to talk about global warming!" He told me. After I had finished laughing I remembered another scripture from the book of Job which reads:

 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow 
   or seen the storehouses of the hail, 
 which I reserve for times of trouble, 
   for days of war and battle? 
 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, 
   or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? 
 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, 
   and a path for the thunderstorm, 
 to water a land where no one lives, 
   an uninhabited desert, 
 to satisfy a desolate wasteland 
   and make it sprout with grass? 
 Does the rain have a father? 
   Who fathers the drops of dew? 
 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?

In the end we have to be aware that this is the God's earth and everything in it.(Psalm 24:1). I am comforted from that fact on the unseasonably cold winters day!