A Thunderous Experience!

This past weekend, we have been dealing with our first snowfall of the season. It has been a heavy, wet snow that has steadily blanketed our village with an impressive eight and a half inches of accumulated snow. The day before, on Friday, our granddaughter, Chloe, helped us put the ornaments on the tree and then we did some last-minute grocery shopping. It was the calm before the storm, and we were getting prepared should we be snowed in for the weekend!

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On Saturday, as the snow began falling, Monique and I sat comfortably in the family room admiring our Christmas decorations. The lights on the tree and mantle were having their usual seasonal effect. It was just after one o’clock as I was entering a hypnotic state and was almost asleep when the first of two back-to-back thunderous claps jolted me fully awake. Monique was startled as well and exclaimed, “WHAT…WAS… THAT?” While still processing what I had heard, I tentatively replied, “That was thunder! But how is that possible? It’s snowing!”

I immediately Googled the subjects of “thunder and snow” and discovered some interesting facts from AI. Appropriately, the phenomenon is called thundersnow and it is quite rare. It only occurs about 7 times every 100,000 storms. During warm weather, thunder and lightning are usually the result of warm, moist air rising into cooler air. Thundersnow requires the unusual setup of cold air, which is normally more stable, mixing with warmer atmospheric conditions. The result is a powerful thunderous interaction during a snowstorm!

After processing nearly seventy-five years of accumulated experiences, once again this past Saturday, I had to acknowledge that I hadn’t seen everything! With the uniqueness of thundersnow occurring less than one percent of the time, it’s no wonder I can’t ever recall this unusual phenomenon ever occurring during my lifetime! Yet, in all honesty, it is refreshing to be humbled and surprised by a new experience that I can’t explain! It confirms the obvious, I am part of creation and God is the Creator!

This is what our Creator God reminds us of in the context of a discussion about “rain and snow” in Scripture, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts!” (Isaiah 55:8-10). It is as William Cowper, the hymn writer, extols with beautiful phrasing, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm!”

There is another reference in Scripture that is relevant to God’s creative work through weather. In an extended speech or conversation (more aptly described as a lecture!) Job, God’s righteous servant, must endure a young, angry, and self-righteous friend named Elihu. This inexperienced young man mistakenly thinks he can explain what God is up to in Job’s life. He thinks Job deserves this pain, suffering, and loss because God is judging him!

Elihu references how creation is like a classroom of lessons from Almighty God. He observes, “No one can escape from God… when blizzards roar out of the north and freezing rain crusts the land. It is God’s breath that forms the ice, and it is God’s breath that turns lakes and rivers solid. And yes, it’s God who fills clouds with rainwater and hurls lightning from them every which way. He… commands them to do what He says… whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love, he makes sure they make their mark!” (Job 37:9-13, MSG).

Elihu was wrong about Job. God selected him for a special assignment because He knew Job was righteous and faithful. Later, God would restore Job’s losses, make him prosperous again and bestow blessings upon him “twice as much as he had before!”

When the storms come, let’s remember these two great truths, “This is my Father’s world,” and we are His beloved children!

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,
active churchman and
doting grandparent.
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com
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