Jason McKnight: Snow-pocalypse 2026: The Snow’s Unmistakable Message
A foot of snow in Kinston! That was quite a sight. It was beautiful. It was arresting. It was cold. To think that precipitation fell not as drops of water, but as crystals of H2O which piled up on each other to lay down a white blanket of beauty.
I went for a walk on first full day of sun after the snow. Among the trees, meadows, bushes. Stunning. Brilliantly bright. Blue sky never bluer. Our street never more gorgeous than cloaked in the serenity of the snow.
This past week at our elders meeting, we were talking of the snow, and then in our pray time, one of the elders marveled to the Lord about the “intricacy of the tiny, fluffy, white snowflakes.” He then compared it to us humans—intricate and tiny (and yet, I’m getting “fluffy”, I hate to admit it). Just as each snowflake is different so too is each human unique. No two of us are alike.
Snow is that reminder of our uniqueness. If we stop long enough to wonder at it.
Snow is also a pointed reminder that we are not as in control as we generally think. We received around 12 inches of snow. It stopped us in our tracks for a couple of days. Church was live-streamed. Schools were cancelled for several days. Work was lenient with travel… no boss wants an employees’ car accident on their conscience.
Snow changed our lives for a few days. More than meteorology, I think theology: I think snow is an invitation from God pointing to himself. It’s a hint of God through nature, an echo of his glory, some fingerprints from himself.
What does snow say? “Slow down!” “Rest awhile.” “Give careful thought to your ways.” “while your pace is changed, attend to me first, and people beside.”
God has the gracious power to slow us down. He has the capacity to change our rhythm, cancel our plans, cause us to stay home and just be. And he has the right to. He’s God, and I’m not. With a few flakes, our lives are upended.
I take great comfort in this. There are times when our world seems so much like a carnival & travelling circus, and I don’t know who’s in charge. But with just a bit of crystalized water, I remember who is in charge: the Lord Himself.
There’s a character in the bible we all kind of know about: that poor sufferer, Job. He lost everything—family, riches, health. His friends came to him to be with him.
They urged him, “come clean! Surely you’ve done something to deserve the treatment you are getting. What is your unconfessed sin, that has brought on your calamity?” Even so, Job maintained his innocence, negating the idea of “karma”.
And, Job appealed to God: “why is this happening? What is going on?”
After 37 chapters of dialogue between Job and his friends, God begins to speak. For four whole chapters(38-41), God answers Job from the Whirlwind: “Where were you when…” and he outlines all aspects of nature and creation. The effect is to remind Job and his friends, you and me, that we are puny compared to the Living God.
One of God’s rhetorical questions is this: “Have you entered the storehouses of snow, or seen the storehouses of hail?” Of course we haven’t. But the point is: God has.
We experienced a few tablespoons from God’s Snow Storehouse, and we were completely stopped. Imagine a real snowstorm! Imagine a blizzard that brings so much snow we can’t get out of our front door! I remember one blizzard in Montreal (‘75 or ‘76?) when the snow was so deep, it drifted halfway up my bedroom window.
God can stop us in our tracks anytime he wants. ENC is not in the snow belt. Even so, God slowed us all down with it. I haven’t seen the storehouses of snow—I’m puny. God is great. So much greater than I can imagine. Snow-pocalypse 2026 helps me visualize how powerful he is.
But here is the best news of all: as powerful as he is, he is also that gracious. That good. That loving and kind. So much love and kindness stored up for his children in Christ.
As I write this, the sun is out and it’s warm again! Yee Haw. But this one lingering remembrance of the fun of the snow reminds me of God’s majesty and power, my own puniness, and of his grace and kindness that are as rich and full as his snow storehouses! He waits to bestow it on those who seek him and look to him. May that be us.
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