Christian Living

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Recently a friend was talking to a very successful rugby coach in Sydney who was complaining about a problem at his club. His players were having to cope with a new phenomenon that many of these young guys in their early twenties had never really experienced. The problem was not caused by rule changes or a change in styles of play. No, the new problem at this club was quite simple: the players were having to learn, some for the first time ever, how to play rugby in the wet. After a drought that has seemed to stretch forever and has led to especially dry winters, it seems a generation of Sydney footballers have forgotten the skills required to play when the ball is greasy and the field is heavy after rain. Sydney has experienced one of its wettest and coldest Junes for many, many years, and apart from the odd rugby coach, few of us should be complaining.

Even more interesting are the statistics regarding water storage in the Sydney region. Since the 1950s the perceived wisdom was that Sydney had a secure system of water storage. With a huge dam and catchment areas, coupled with generous average rainfalls in this part of the world, it was never anticipated that Sydney would have anything but an abundance of water. Indeed, I well remember visiting the dam in the 1980s and seeing the water being released after heavy rains which flooded the catchments. In fact, not far from where we lived we saw the one in a hundred year flood zones flood three times in 18 months, while other areas that had never flooded saw cars floating down the street. But of course the last decade has seen significant drought, culminating in the dam storage level in January 2007 reaching a meager 34.5%, with serious water restrictions becoming a reality.

However June has been a cold and wet month. The level of storage is now back up to 50% total capacity, which is an almost 50% increase on the January levels. The catchments are now sodden and for the first time in years, rain that falls is not soaking into the ground but running towards the creeks and rivers that lead to the dams.

Through all of this we are reminded that God seems more intent on seasons than averages. Not content with the seasonal varieties of summer, autumn, winter and spring, the world that God has given us also seems to be punctuated by drought and flooding, boom and bust, health and sickness, and laughter and mourning. So often we hanker for the safety of averages, while our experience is way more seasonal.

Maybe it's time to repent of our god-like desire to remove the seasons and instead, in faith, embrace the God of all seasons.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:" Ecclesiastes 3: 1

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