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