Bring on the snow

My wife and I have been home owners for the past 6 weeks and we love it.  Before moving into our house, we had lived the past two years in an apartment complex.  The beautiful thing about living in an apartment is that you are not responsible for maintaining the yard and shoveling the driveway when it snows.  Now that we are homeowners (which we much prefer), we have to keep those things in mind as winter sets in.

Now, I love the snow.  It’s currently snowing outside!  As I watch some of the flakes fall outside my window, it dawns upon me that this is more work I get to do.  This fall it was raking the leaves (there is a reason my street is named Thousand Oaks).  Now with winter comes shoveling. 

In preparation for the coming snow, I had to make a decision on how to clear the driveway.  My options were to pay the guy down the road to clear it with his truck and plow or to remove it myself.  As some of you know, my driveway is fairly long and not something anyone really would want to do with a shovel.  So what did I decide on… the second option.  I will be clearing the snow this winter on my own. 

You might be thinking, “Jason, it’s not worth it.  Doing it by hand will take way too long and you are going to hurt your back.”  I agree with you, doing it by hand is not the best option.  But I know something you don’t know.  I know what is behind the garage door.

This winter, when the snow accumulates, the garage door shall be lifted and I will reveal to Michigan’s lake affect snow the awesomeness and wonderful might of my 24” 179cc dual-stage snow blower.  This thing is a beast.  It has a 5-6 HP 4-cycle OHV engine, 6 different speed settings, 4 rotor blades, steel body, electric start, and weighs 190lbs.  I’m surprised there is still room for the car.

I would not dare attempt to tackle a Michigan winter’s fury on a long driveway by myself, with just a shovel.  But because I know what sits inside the garage, ready to tackle the winter for me, I have peace about the future weather forecast.

Take a moment and read Romans 7:14-20.  In this Paul is describing his own struggle with sin, acknowledging that even he, an Apostle of Jesus and one of the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, is not immune from temptation and sin.

Continue reading Romans 7:21-24.  I love how Paul states “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”  Paul understands that he is unable to tackle the fury and magnitude of sin that wages war in his life on his own.  But Paul doesn’t stop there.  Keep reading Romans 7:25-8:17.

Let me paraphrase this a bit.  What Paul is saying is that what we cannot do on our own (conquer sin), Jesus has done for us.  Since Jesus has acted on our behalf and saved us from our sin, we are no longer slaves to our sin.  It holds no power over us and our lives are no longer under its control.   And even though sin will continue to wage war all around us, we need not fear because what we have inside the garage is greater than anything our sinful nature can throw at us.  We who are in Christ have the Holy Spirit, and he is more powerful and greater than any temptation or sinful desire that comes our way.  While sin seeks to make us a slave again, the Holy Spirit empowers us to live according to God’s will.

A word of encouragement: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:16-17).