I Suggest Snow Worship

Please understand that my proposal to engage in snow worship does not mean that I am suggesting we all go on a pilgrimage to Michigan, make snowman gods and bring them back to large walk in freezers for their preservation and worship. Nor is it my attempt to introduce a more northern approach to Christianity by suggesting that snow and spirituality somehow go hand in glove. Worship has nothing to do with sun or snow, Michigan or Georgia, or even Jerusalem (see John 4). To understand my snow worship suggestion, a little personal story may be in order.

Christy and I began our illustrious marital journey breathlessly in love and broke. But when you’re floating on the clouds of matrimonial myopia, and all you can clearly see is the beloved before you, little things like money seem so unimportant…so, unromantic.

We were both seniors in college, so we needed to find very cheap housing, a cheap car, and basically a George Banks’ cheaper-chicken-approach to everything. We bought a blue Buick LeSabre for about what a mid range riding lawn mower goes for at Walmart these days. I think it was a 1978 model, which was comforting because at least it was made one year after I was born. It was the kind of car that I had repeatedly pledged to myself as a youth that I would never be seen in... The “Blue Bomb” had a fascinating way of looking the same from a front or back perspective since the front and back ends of the car both protruded out in a rather disturbing way.

The house we found was a quaint little cottage overlooking a small lake. Sounds endearing doesn’t it? Our first little home, which was apparently decorated in the late sixties, was alive with yellows, oranges and greens from a day when decorating in puke colors was chic. But, the price was right - $200 a month – and that even came with an unlimited supply of lady bugs to boot. We spent a good portion of our newlywed life vacuuming up the lady bugs that apparently were renting our cottage as well…I’m not sure if they were paying their rent per bug or not, but if they were, then our landlord (who died not long after we moved in) was sitting on a significant stash of cash.

But none of this mattered; after all, we were in love! Of course, marital love has an interesting way of "showing" itself. When I found out that Christy was pregnant, I was actually in a hotel with my basketball team buddies on an away game. Christy called me and told me the good news! I was a senior in college, twenty-one years old, didn’t look like I was old enough to have a driver’s license, was broke, drove a “blue bomb”, and now I was a soon-to-be father.

Christy didn’t respond very well physically to her first pregnancy. She had an unusual case of morning sickness (I call it "unusual" because it seemed to last the whole day). The one advantage to all this was my increased agility and coordination. I got pretty good at catching her throw up with a bowl in my left hand while sucking up lady bugs with the vacuum tube in my right hand.

During this time our blessed Blue-Bomb-Buick LeSabre burst, so we had to find alternative transportation. I remember one particular day Christy had taken the car we were borrowing from her parent’s to her class. I was reclining in our “cottage on the lake” when I remembered that I was car-less and had no way to drive to class. Now, I have not yet mentioned that our college was located in a little town two and half hours north of Green Bay, Wisconsin. This bit of information will help you visualize my long walk in the snow to my next class...

I took up my backpack of books and began the perilous trek to class. As I was walking, I was considering my basic lot in life, and I began to get angry…lady bugs, throw up, hippie house décor, no money, no car, etc…I kicked a snow drift with a burst of vindictive anger and in my heart I said, “God, what are you doing to me?!” 

Do you know what He eventually said? “I’m doing what you asked.”

Now please believe me, I had not been praying for lady bugs, throw up or a meager existence. But His point did strike its mark. You see, I had prayed on a few occasions, “Lord, whatever it takes to bring me closer to You, that’s what I want.” It was like God was saying, “I’m just helping you on your way to Me.”

God’s biggest concern with me had nothing to do with my car, or cottage, or even my beautiful wife Christy. His main concern for me was my relationship with Him. He was forming a worshipper. And worshippers often find the best melodies in the tension and trials of life.  God was not out to make me rich or comfortable, but eternally satisfied. 

You see, God knows a little secret. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25) What? What’s all this nonsense about hating your life? Isn’t that un-Disney, or at least un-American? The point of Jesus’ comment is simple: You must make one basic choice in life. The choice has to do with how you approach your life. Will you cherish your own life here and now in what you do, what you wear, where you go, who you hang out with, what you eat, how you work, who you care about, etc….Or will you cherish God supremely here and now and appear to most people to be living almost an “I hate-temporary-personal-fulfillment-and-fun” kind of mentality?

The only way most people know how to love their life is to buy better shoes, get a better car, find a better relationship, get a better job, go to a better movie, eat a better steak. But Jesus’ words in John 12, as well as Luke 9:24-25, Matt. 10:39, and Mark 8:35, let you in on something astounding.  The ultimate step to lasting personal satisfaction is to give up your life. There is no five step program for eternal happiness…there is only one. Abandon your endless push to make your life meaningful and make your endless push that of knowing, loving, and enjoying Jesus! In other words, hate your life and find it forever in loving Jesus supremely! Do you know what we call this kind of backwards approach to life? Worship.

And here is where snow worship comes in. What God wanted from me on that cold day in the snow was worship. He wanted me to stand in the middle of my cold, car-less, confusing, lady-bug-crawling life and worship. He loved me so much, that He was gently helping me discover that my joy in life would never be full in things, or in circumstances or even in marriage alone. My ultimate meaning and joy was found in Him! He was setting me up for worship! He was reminding me of the fleeting warmth of “the good life” and the enduring pleasure and treasure of a life lived for Him!

What about you? Are you becoming a passionate worshipper of Jesus Christ in middle of your walk in the snow? Are you engaging in snow worship? Are you seeing Christ in the coldness of your life? Is He melting away the coldness of your heart as you discover that His love is the light and warmth of your heart, of your life and the world forever?

Snow worship has really very little to do with snow. It’s all about Who you find in the snow…and if you will worship or whine. The stakes are high in this whole snow-worship business. Jesus was dead serious about this hating-your-life approach. He knew that it would take a hate-like intensity to go against our inclination to live for TV, Twinkies and car trunks filled with treasures. But he knew if we went after him, like our life depended on it, we would find that He is the ultimate satisfaction forever. Maybe that’s why He said, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25). What does it get us if we get everything we want here and find ourselves without Christ in the end? The answer: nothing.

Snow worship is simply a dead giveaway that you have chosen the hate-your-life-by-loving-Christ-supremely way of living! So let’s get out there and worship Jesus, love Jesus, fight for Jesus, work for Jesus, think for Jesus, talk for Jesus, live for Jesus…even in the snow.