The Miracle Snow
It's been a while. This is actually an old story, but one of my favorites:
Two years ago, I was boarding a plane from Hawaii to Japan. With me were two people who were born in Hawaii...one whom had never seen snow. I have lived in California for most of my life and could count on my hand the times I have seen snow, myself. We knew that the part of Japan we were going to rarely saw snow...but the three of us prayed: "God, can you make it snow in Japan for Christmas?" Kind of a silly prayer, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Christmas morning, we awoke to find the sunlight pouring through the windows. No snow. The married couple with us joked that it was a White Christmas anyways, because their last name was White.
A couple weeks had passed. My friend Sharon and I were particularily discouraged one day...wondering if we were really meeting our purpose in Japan. We were walking through a grave site at higher altitude and I saw little piles of white scattered around the edges of some of the graves. SNOW! I scooped some up into my gloved hand and showed Sharon. Praise God. We kept walking with a lighter step this time...God showed us a bit of hope. Meanwhile, the handful of snow was not melting. I examined it...tasted it...salt. I was really frustrated now. What kind of joke was this, God? (I can laugh with Him now.)
We had been advertising a party for the neighborhood that we were hosting at our house. We had passed out fliers, talked to neighbors and hoped for the best. The morning of the event, I was lying in bed and could hear footsteps crunching and children laughing outside. Still dreaming. Suddenly I heard Sharon exclaiming, "It's snowing! It's snowing! Everybody get up!" I ran to the window. Everything was covered in white and flakes were still falling. Ken, the other Hawaiian, was walking outside...his first experience with snow. Kids were building snowballs. Adults were standing in their doorway confused: it hadn't snowed in their town for 15 years. We apologized to the neighbors for asking God to make it snow!
We only got about twelve people coming to our apartment above the church that night. (We had made vats of curry and would be eating it for the next three days.) I still wonder why God chose that day. It didn't snow any other day while we were there. I guess He was reminding us, no matter what, He is faithful. We may have expectations we put on Him and get frustrated when things don't happen our way. Still, He is there, He listens, and His timing is perfect.
Two years ago, I was boarding a plane from Hawaii to Japan. With me were two people who were born in Hawaii...one whom had never seen snow. I have lived in California for most of my life and could count on my hand the times I have seen snow, myself. We knew that the part of Japan we were going to rarely saw snow...but the three of us prayed: "God, can you make it snow in Japan for Christmas?" Kind of a silly prayer, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Christmas morning, we awoke to find the sunlight pouring through the windows. No snow. The married couple with us joked that it was a White Christmas anyways, because their last name was White.
A couple weeks had passed. My friend Sharon and I were particularily discouraged one day...wondering if we were really meeting our purpose in Japan. We were walking through a grave site at higher altitude and I saw little piles of white scattered around the edges of some of the graves. SNOW! I scooped some up into my gloved hand and showed Sharon. Praise God. We kept walking with a lighter step this time...God showed us a bit of hope. Meanwhile, the handful of snow was not melting. I examined it...tasted it...salt. I was really frustrated now. What kind of joke was this, God? (I can laugh with Him now.)
We had been advertising a party for the neighborhood that we were hosting at our house. We had passed out fliers, talked to neighbors and hoped for the best. The morning of the event, I was lying in bed and could hear footsteps crunching and children laughing outside. Still dreaming. Suddenly I heard Sharon exclaiming, "It's snowing! It's snowing! Everybody get up!" I ran to the window. Everything was covered in white and flakes were still falling. Ken, the other Hawaiian, was walking outside...his first experience with snow. Kids were building snowballs. Adults were standing in their doorway confused: it hadn't snowed in their town for 15 years. We apologized to the neighbors for asking God to make it snow!
We only got about twelve people coming to our apartment above the church that night. (We had made vats of curry and would be eating it for the next three days.) I still wonder why God chose that day. It didn't snow any other day while we were there. I guess He was reminding us, no matter what, He is faithful. We may have expectations we put on Him and get frustrated when things don't happen our way. Still, He is there, He listens, and His timing is perfect.
posted by Celeste at 10:39 AM
3 comments
