Out Our Way: But wait, there's more! - Habakkuk 3:2

Winter is a hard time on the Hi-Line - especially in the Season of the "Alberta clippers," the Arctic winds that remind us there is nothing between is and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence ... and someone left the gate open.

Although God has blessed the Hi-Line with warm "chinook" winds that give us numerous faux-springs during the harshest winter months, sometimes the chinooks don't come for and there are only the winter storms. The good news is that because of the seemingly arbitrary nature of Montana winters, we Montanans look for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Eight-foot snow banks may come, but so will tractors and four-wheelers and trucks with plows. Reservoirs and water tanks may freeze over, but we have hammers, axes, and saws to break up the ice and let the waters flow. The grazing grounds may be covered with frost and deep snow, but the hay bales we harvested last fall can be loaded and distributed to the herds even in the bleakest of winter storms.

Charlie Russell, the popular Montana Cowboy artist, had a famous drawing of a starving steer surrounded by wolves in a blizzard entitled "Waiting for a Chinook." Today he would draw that same picture of the steer in a blizzard - but the steer would neither be starving nor threatened by predators. For the modern rancher, while still hoping and praying for the chinook winds, would be prepared for when those winds don't come. We cannot stop the "clippers" but we don't have to be at their mercy.

Read again the prophet's words for today. Read the trust and the hope of a people in the midst of a spiritual "clipper" threatening their destruction. Yes, the people pray for a spiritual "chinook," but also notice how the prophet knows and trusts God will provide it in "our own time." Read the history of the era and see for yourself. In the Hebrew faith it was said, "How do you know who is a prophet and who is not?" The answer is, "If their word proves true, they speak the word of God." Well, Habakkuk's word proved to be true which is why he is acclaimed as a prophet of God.

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

--

The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].