Creating our own Weather

According to this morning's headlines, the Bootleg Fire in Klamath and Lake counties has grown so large at more than 600 square miles that it is generating its own weather. Enormous columns of smoke and ash have risen up to six miles high into the sky, and fire crews have repeatedly had to back away from the flames as fireballs leap from tree to tree, exploding and sending embers bursting out to start new blazes.

As the Southern Oregon inferno swirls in a mire of hot, shifting winds and dry lightning, extreme heat is forcing the air to rise rapidly, condensing and cooling any moisture on the smoke particles rising from the fire. The pyrocumulus clouds that form essentially morph into their own self-contained thunderstorms that include lightning and high winds.

At half the size of Rhode Island, the fire is now "so large and generating so much energy and extreme heat that it's changing the weather," according to Marcus Kauffman from the Oregon Department of Forestry. "Normally, the weather predicts what the fire will do. In this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do."

As we pray for firefighters' relief from the unpredictable winds and extreme heat, it is easy to see the fire as an apt metaphor for so much we are enduring this year: the pandemic, racial tensions, vaccinations, political strife, ice storms, virus variants, social media vitriol, cultural angst. How many social and cultural situations can you recall that have taken on a life of their own in recent months, creating their own internal storms rather than responding reflexively to the weather around them? What can you do to remain steady despite the jumping fireballs and exploding embers?

Consider Paul's words in Romans 12:2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

And while our Holy Spirit-inspired transformation should lift us out of the mire of cultural strife, we are not to consider ourselves "better than" as so many Christians unfortunately do. Listen to Paul's next words to the believers in Rome: "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."

What weather do you create as you move through your days? Are the hot winds swirling and the embers flying, or do you bring peaceful breezes and calm skies when you enter a room? While most of us prefer to focus on the tasks at hand, checking things off with the accomplishment mindset that fuels our western American culture, how can you learn to slow down enough to recognize the weather patterns that emerge from the way you move through a room, drive your car, or sit in a chair?

Like it or not, you are generating your own weather, much like the pyrocumulus clouds that are rising above the Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon this week. How can you ensure that the weather you are emitting is a blessing rather than a back-drag, an encouragement rather than a hindrance?

May the peace of Christ reign over your week,

Jennie