Out Our Way: Then Comes the Chinook - Isaiah 35: 1 - 6

Out our way, winter comes hard and fast. I do not envy those ranchers who have to go out in minus-40 degree blizzards during calving season to check the cows. Even with a good heater in the pick up, it is a miserable business. I kept Doc in his paddock with his girlfriend Babe all winter - and Charlie kept Jet and Freckles in theirs - while we both stayed inside as much as we could. We were just the cowboys and not the owners.

Yet even so, winter on the Hi Line can be harsh for everyone, and when those Alberta Clippers hit and temperatures drop, it sometimes feels like the end of the world has come. But though we endure those arctic blasts with "nothing but a barbed wire fence between us and the North Pole,"we also enjoy those chinook winds that come just as suddenly and bring numerous "mini-Springs" to the region. It is 40 below one day and a week later it is 40 above outside. Those small snippets of the spring that always follows winter keep us hanging on in the darkest days.

Faith is not some magic spell that prohibits hard times. Who among us has not endured "dark nights of the soul" and "winters of discontent"? The "Alberta clippers" of the "Dark Lord" come to us all from time to time. But in faith we learn to look for the Lord's "chinooks" that are sent to remind us that even the most terrible winter cannot last.

Catherine Marshall wrote "A Man called Peter," the biography of her late husband and U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall. Peter had been chaplain during World War II and become quite well-known. His sudden death from a heart attack shocked the nation. That might have been the end of the story except for a dream that followed his death. In the midst of her grief and shock of Peter's sudden death, Catherine was granted a "chinook" ... in the form of a dream or vision.

One night as she lay in bed, she suddenly was transported into a beautiful garden where she found her beloved Peter tending roses. Peter had always been an avid gardener, but his hard schedule as pastor and the Senate chaplain allowed him far too little time to pursue it. Now he was surrounded by roses and was clearly delighted to have all the time he wanted to care for them. Even so, she described him as still being in something of a daze after his unexpected death - and she felt God had given him this garden as a transition to the new Life that was now his.

Sometime before the dream or vision occured, Catherine had been inspired to try her hand at writing and to write about her life with Peter. She had many doubts about it and knew the chances of an unknown author being published are next to nil - but Peter told her to go ahead with it. The result was the best seller, later turned into a movie and the start of a writing ministry that would go on to inspire millions.

In the depth of the bleakest winter God can and does send us chinooks. But we have to be willing to expect and welcome them when they come. The times of Isaiah was a bleak time for the people of God. Their enemies were triumphant and gloating - many of their lukewarm fellow believers were falling away and accepting the new paganism that was so popular with the rest of the world. To stand up for the faith was to invite ridicule, rejection and even persecution. It was not easy to be faithful when the leaders of the nation and even many religious leaders were not. Then, as now, to be "out of fashion and out of step" with the popular culture was also to be "out of favor" and scorned. It was indeed the winter of discontent for the faithful, whose numbers were shrinking as the icy blasts of the powers of darkness dominated the culture.

So God sent "chinooks" in the form of the prophets - and those who opened the doors and windows of their souls received in the warm winds of hope. Those who did not remained locked in the perpetual Alberta clipper sent by the prince of darkness and loudly championed by his gullible servants.

That the storms of darkness swirl in our lives should not surprise us. The Enemy of humanity has always sought to "freeze" our souls with his lies and displays of power. No one escapes the Alberta clippers of the Enemy and in every age people have been chilled and nearly frozen as the storms roar about us. The Enemy cries out in supposed triumph over God and us as he sends his blasts upon us and tells us we are lost.

And then comes that still small voice crying in the wilderness - the chinook of God's word that called the devil a liar and tells us winter itself is doomed. As a chinook in the midst of February reminds us that the coldest winter will not last, so the Word comes to those who will open the window and doors of their soul and look for it. It will be found in the Scriptures, in the faith of others, and in the humble and fragile prayer of the seeker who is willing to be found. 

  Re-read this text from Isaiah written in the "deepest winter" of his life and that of his people and accept it as God speaking to you as well. Open the doors and windows of your soul by opening the scripture - and let the warm chinook wind come in and melt the ice.

Blessings!

Brother John Bruington