The Treasures Of The Snow Series

It was one of the strangest funerals on record. Nobody was being buried, but things were

being buried in a lot of little graves, and in one, the Bible was being buried. Shackleton and

his men were exploring the Antarctic when they were over whelmed by the forces of nature.

Their ship, Endurance, unfortunately, could not endure the pressure of the ice, and it was

crushed into splinters. Shackleton and his men were adrift on an island of ice. He was

convinced their only hope was to move across the ice to the other side of the floe.

He ordered his men to sift through their belongings and reduce their luggage to two

pounds each. It was a sad sight to watch as they each went apart, dug a hole in the snow, and

began to dispose of their possessions. Bundles of letters they had from their wives were

placed in their miniature mausoleums. Little gifts that they had received before leaving

from England, and all of the sentimental things had to go, except the lightweight pictures of

their wives and sweethearts.

Meanwhile, Shackleton had to make a decision as he sorted through things. What should

he do with the ships Bible. It was a gift from the Queen Alexandra. It was too heavy to carry

along, but could it be abandoned? Shackleton decided to compromise. He tore out the fly

leaf burying the Queens inscription in her own handwriting, and he tore out one page of the

Bible. Which page would you choose to save if you could only save one? It would not likely

be the one which he choose, but you would not likely be in his situation either. He selected

the leaf containing the 37th and 38th chapters of Job.

They were marooned on an island of snow and ice, and these chapters reminded them that

God was the author and creator of snow and ice. It seemed like a God forsaken place, but

these chapters kept them aware that they were never out of the hand of God, for His hand is

in all of nature. God, in these chapters, is challenging Job and all men to look at nature and

learn from it why they need to stand in awe before their Creator.

That part of nature we want to focus on is--snow. There are 25 references to snow in the

Bible, and we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and so snow is

to be a part of creation that teaches us something about God. Doctor Talmage, that great

preacher of nature sermons, tells of two rough wood cuts he saw as a boy. They hung side by

side, and one portrayed a lad warmly clothed, looking out of the door of his farm house upon

the first flurry of snow. Hearing the jingling sleigh bells and the frolic of his play fellows in

the deep banks, he is clapping his hands and shouting: "It snows! It snows!"

The other sketch was of a boy, haggard and hollow-eyed with hunger, looking for the

broken door of a wretched home. Seeing the falling flakes is to him a sign of more cold, less

bread, and greater privation. Wringing his hands, and with tears rolling down his cheeks he

cries: "It snows! It snows!" Two boys seeing the same thing, but with totally different

emotions. What we have here is not just a matter of different strokes for different folks.

Snow means different things to different people, but it also means different things to the

same people at different times. Snow is one of those aspects of reality that is both a potential

burden, and a potential blessing, and which it becomes depends a great deal upon your perspective.

Snow is a great deal like its creator. God is love, and the warmth of His grace is the

source of all our comforts and joys. But God is also a consuming fire, and His judgment can

be the source of great sorrow. Snow, like God, can be a blessing or a burden; a joy or a

judgment. It has been both in my life as I am sure it has been in yours. You have no doubt

been awed by its beauty, but also made to feel awful by its brutality.

Snow has been a major force that has determined the destiny of many people. Such was

the case with Napoleon. In the winter of 1812 Napoleon marched away from Moscow with

200,000 men on a bright and beautiful October 19 morning. As the day wore on, the sky

darkened, and soon the snow began to fly. Harmless little missiles, but in sufficient

quantities one of nature's most deadly weapons. Multiplied billions of these insignificant

flakes fell until the horses could not pull the supply wagons. The men began to fall from