Finding the Way Home
The eNewsletter Archive

Below is the archived version of Marshall Hayden's eNewesletter "Finding the Way Home." If you would like to be added to to mailing list, please send a blank email to evangelism-subscribe@worthingtoncc.org.

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January 2009

All Regular Programming Cancelled

How can they find enough weather talk to fill ten minutes? That was a question that I heard a friend ask back in the day when television programming was simpler, stations were fewer, and cable and satellite TV were unheard of. I don't remember who that was; but if he is still with us I wonder what he's thinking now. We have two weather channels, a food channel, a history channel, two animal channels, two golf channels, and more – you know all this. There is weather talk 24/7, even when there is nothing remarkable to talk about.

When does someone find the time to listen to all of this? That's not really the main thing I'm thinking today; but that question just jumped into my mind. On top of the dozens of channel choices, we have recording devices sitting there, or from our providers, that permit us to save things for viewing later – even several channels at once. Don't we have better things to do? It was bad enough this past Sunday afternoon, that when I was recovering from a nap, which I took to recover from Sunday morning, watching Buckeye basketball, I discovered that my wife, my neighbor, and his little boys were shoveling my sidewalk. Ouch! If the wide-screen has captured us and kept us from more important things, it's time to do some rethinking.

This week everything else was put aside, as we watched the snow and ice capades. It wasn't just a matter of filling ten minutes with weather information, or turning to a specialized channel. The major local stations booted their regular programming (not that bad an idea) and sent reporters around central Ohio to tell us how bad things were. The networks spent time getting reports from around the country. Granted, it was somewhat worse than usual; and just about all of us had to adjust our activities. There were some inconveniences, power outages, and accidents. But there were some benefits too. Families were encouraged to spend some time together. Neighbors were out helping each other. There was more concession than rage on the roads. A lot of public servants were really serving well.

What has struck me is our growing preoccupation with the weather! And I wonder what is behind that. It's more, I think, than simply the fact that work schedules and some inconveniences have required adjustment. That has always been the case; but people have dealt with it. Secondary things have been elevated to the primary. And an even larger issue, I believe, is our national inclination to blame someone else for our difficulties and look to someone else to solve our problems. The self-reliance of our American forebears is not totally positive; but there is a good deal to say for it. And to rely on the Divine sufficiency to deal with the things that are really important and to avoid being traumatized by the things that are less important are the right steps to take.

There's not much talk in the Bible about the weather. The King James translation uses the word three times; and the New International translates that Greek word "weather" only once. In Matthew 16 Jesus chides the Pharisees and Sadducees for looking for signs. And he simply notes that they are good at reading the "red in the night" and "red in the morning" signs, but they can't see the more important things happening within them and around them. I think that you can see the whatever-weather implications in Paul's statement (Romans 8:38-39) – "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This too shall pass. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)." It's my relationship with Him that really matters.