Bullets for the Battle

The Ice Line
By RA Stites

In mid-January, 2007, a powerful storm encased much of the area from Texas to Illinois in a deadly coating of ice. Power lines fell, trees broke under the weight, Amtrak service was interrupted, flights from area airports were cancelled, several people died as a result of the storm. In its wake, Governors issued disaster decrees. It would take the next two weeks and more to get everything back to normal.

In the days leading up to the storm, the National Weather Service issued watches and warnings. Our area was included. We watched the drama unfold on television and outside our windows. One of the most amazing things about this storm was the clear line between devastating ice and a little winter weather. One newscast had a memorable picture of a mountainside where a line appeared to mark the boundary between ice coated trees and those that were not.

The reaction of the public was predictable. If you lived in the affected part of our state you were doing your best to survive without electricity and, in some cases, heat. Even that effort proved deadly; a Bella Vista, Arkansas, couple died in their home from carbon monoxide poising produced by the fumes of a heater. The Red Cross set up emergency shelters in several communities. Businesses closed putting wage earners out of work for days. If you lived on the ice side of the line you wished you could have done more to prepare.

If you lived on the non-iced side you complained about those fool weathermen getting everyone excited about nothing. It is doubtful that anyone in our area was more than two degrees of separation from the icy side – we all know someone or knew someone who knew someone who was out of power or in distress. But it was not our houses and towns under the ice so we made light of the storm – even though we knew that only a few miles away people suffered.

It seems to me that there is a similar “ice line” between ordinary life and one marred by evil. Like the winter storm, there is a little, normal “bad weather” or there is an “ice storm” of sin and depravity. We all suffer the effects of sin to some degree. We all encounter bad things: arguments with co-workers, finances out of order, fights with a spouse, someone gossiping about us or we gossip about them, children acting up, a raise or promotion denied, criticism of our actions, the list is never ending. That is the normal “bad weather” of life.

Then there are the truly horrible things that happen in our world where sin and depravity seem to outweigh any good; these are the “ice storms” of life. A child is the victim of a serial killer or drive-by shooter or suicide bomber. Bankruptcy is the only way out of debt for the individual or the company. A spouse betrays ones trust and devastates ones happiness in a horrible divorce. Depression settles in for a long stay and the sufferer can not face each day without thoughts of suicide. This list, too, is long and painful.

The “ice line” runs through the lives of individuals and communities. Our responses are as predictable as those to a weather warning. If we are on the “bad weather” side we take little heed of the warning. We see the devastation and offer sympathy or support but we don’t live “there.” We are arrogant in our regard of those who warn of disasters. But if we live on the “ice storm” side we cry out in pain and longing. We wish we had taken heed of the good counsel we had received. We mourn. We fail; we even die in our battle to survive.

This is the state of the world. There is nothing that can completely protect any of us from the storm. Money won’t. Status won’t. Fame won’t. Position won’t. Being a good person won’t. Even being a Believer won’t. What matters is not escaping the storm but how we face it. It is by learning how to “put” all our “bad weather” challenges, difficulties, problems and pains “in Christ” that we prepare to encounter the big “ice storm” when it comes. We may live the greater part of our lives on the “bad weather” side of the line but not all. There will come a time when the predictions are all too true and we are the ones facing the ice. It is the wise man who is prepared!

30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, 31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men. 32 "Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways. 33 "Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it. 34 "Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts. 35 "For he who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD. 36 "But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death." The words of the Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8:30-36