When you run out of comments on sports then you can always turn to weather.  Texas has two seasons that are the opposite of Minnesota.  We do summer then road repair.  They do winter and road repair.  Living in Texas is not for the faint hearted.  You can say the same for much of the south.  Heat begins creeping up in May with no intention of leaving until October.  The issue is not if the weather will be hot but how hot it will get.  Even a cooler summer in Texas is still serious heat for most people.  These last few weeks are no exception to the rule.  Once we got hot it just stayed around to blister everything in sight.  Let me suggest that watching the weather on any news broadcast is a waste of time.  It is also one good way to get depressed.  I avoid summer forecasts just because there will be no change.  Anything after 90 degrees is hot regardless of what they say.  But it does appear that the summer of 2011 is going to be one to remember.

Rain disappeared a few months ago here.  We never even received our normal rain during the winter or spring.  Drought is a good word for the current conditions.  Even my Bahia grass is waving the white flag to the sun.  Things are getting very serious for many people who depend on the usual amount of precipitation.  No longer is it about keeping the grass in the yard green.  Now we are watching levels in lakes and other sources of water.  It is still amazing how our northern friends deal with floods while we are blowing away.  Someone asked me if my watering the grass is to make it grow.  Truth is that my goal is to simply settle the dust.  Our usual green landscape in my part of Texas is increasingly barren.  Perhaps what makes it extra difficult is knowing we can do nothing about this problem.

Could it be that this cruel weather is part of some aspect of judgement?  We know that the Old Testament discusses drought as a mark of God trying to get our attention.  We talked about this a few weeks ago here on the blog.  My opinion still stands now.  I cannot tell you for sure yes or no to the question.  What is clear is our response tells us much on our view of Him.  Some people are going to blame God for this drought.  Their words and actions tell you they have a very low regard for Him.  It is just another reason to distance themselves from His grace.  Others will recognize the reality of being helpless to alter nature.  These are people you will find that know only God can be a realistic hope.  It does call us to reflection as to why this happens and what we are to do.  I am not aware of any human being who can make it rain.  Either our God does something or we are in for even more desperate times.

Our best hope for summer is to get some hurricanes to head our way.  That usually doesn't happen for a few more weeks.  Even a slow moving tropical depression would do us some good.  I do not ever claim to know the mind of God.  I do think that He has reasons for the recent weather even if unknown to me.  We can use times like this to reflect as God invites people to do in the Old Testament.  We can pray for divine mercy even in nature.  Humility tends to grow once you realize you just cannot do a thing to change the law of nature.  Man is helpless in the face of more than imagined.  Weather serves as a reminder of our limits.  Pride is a wasted trait when dealing with the heat.  Let us honestly pray for rain.  Let us humbly rediscover our limits as human beings.  Let us truly seek God's direction regardless of the response.  We may not change the temperatures but we can let Him change us. 

Bro. Trey