Tennesee Snow VS Nebraska Snow; A Lesson in Progress

I'm a Midwest girl living in one of the most well known cities of the South and I've gotta tell you, there are some times that it's just a completely different world down here. Allow me to expand on one of the biggest differences between Tennessee and Nebraska---people's reaction to snow.

**Disclaimer! I'm not hating on TN residents/drivers and would also like to state for the record that  my own experience with snow is piddly compared to people from places like New York, Minnesota, and Michigan.**  Thanks! Feel free to read on, now. :-)

On Monday, November 25, 2013, the unthinkable happened. Little pieces of white goodness began to fall from the sky in Nashville, TN. Before I even registered what was happening, all the bread and milk was sold out in Krogers and Wal-Marts across the city, five ambulances passed me on their way to rescue wary drivers, and talk of school being cancelled filled every home across Davidson, Sumner, Wilson, and Williamson county. I am exaggerating just a bit (except about the ambulances), but I'm not the only one. You can read more about that fateful Monday storm here.

I could blame the issues associated with winter driving on TN drivers, but that just wouldn't be fair or accurate. I even have friends that have told me, "I know you can drive in the snow, but I can't. On days like today, I'm the problem!" Even though they proclaim their guilt, I think the problem of snow in TN is bigger and broader than just a few nervous drivers. If I had to guess, I'd say that the two main issues are:

1. Change
2. Lack of preparation.

Ok...Number 1-- CHANGE.  I did a little research and it appears that Omaha gets an average of 28 inches of snow per year. Nashville/TN, on the other hand, has gotten that much snow in the past FIVE YEARS (and that number is a little elevated due to a freakishly snowy year in 2010-11 when the entire state basically shut down, getting a whopping one foot of snow that winter). To be honest, people in the South just don't get snow very often, so it's not really fair to blame them for getting their panties all in a bunch when they do.

Number two---When it does happen to snow here, the state is generally just not prepared to deal with the consequences of such a winter wonderland. The city don't own enough snow plows, which quickly becomes a problem if the streets ever get more than a dusting. The people don't own snow shovels, and many don't even know the difference between a garden shovel and a snow shovel.  Generally they don't even have the kind of ice scrapers that have brushes on them because they just don't expect to need to brush snow off their cars. So, obviously not having the proper "tools" to deal with snowfall can be a significant problem in the South.

Out of all the things that irk me about snow in Nashville, driving in it is is BY FAR the worst! Take Monday, for example. I drove from Nashville up to Portland, TN. The drive took twice as long as it should have and was excruciatingly stop-and-go slow. Let the record state, this had nothing to do with actual snow that was falling from the sky. The flakes would fall, but it was only, like, 40 degrees and nothing was sticking on the road. As far as driving conditions go, it was the equivalent of driving in a light misting/rain.

Nashville's perception of the great snow of 11-25-2013:

REALITY:

As a crept along at the agonizing pace, I wondered to myself, "Really? Why is this so bad? Why is driving in the "snow" so hard for Southerns?"

I came up with this answer:

FEAR.

It's not the actual snow that is the problem. It's their fear of snow that paralyzes them. It's the fact that they have to face something that they're not familiar with. It's uncharted territory and it scares the mess out of them. And so they brake. Oh boy, do they ever brake! Up to five MPH for a minute there, whelp...no, there goes the brake again. Ok...now we're moving. Yup, just kidding. Putting on the brakes. Even if the road is clear, it's like they're afraid to make too much progress at once.

And so it is with the church. It's an age-old challenge, although it's recently received a lot of attention in the blogging world. They're saying it's young vs old, "millennials" vs the "traditionals," but I think it's deeper than that. There are people, both young and old, who yearn for a revolutionary change in the church. They want to see Christ's bride transformed, serving our communities and the world in such a way that ministers to the forgotten and friendless in life-altering and touching ways. There are also people, young and old, who cling to the solid tenants that they grew up with, hesitant to accept any change for fear that it's not biblical or not the right direction for the church to head in.

We need both. Visionaries and solid rocks. New ideas and founding beliefs. The issues come when we both try to move down the road at completely different paces. The Nebraska drivers/"visionaries" (in this case), zoom down the highway at the regular speed limit, and maybe a few miles over. The Southerns/solid rocks, other the other hand, are driving 5-10 MPH and braking frequently. You can see how this would cause some slow-going on the interstate to church change.

So, how should we deal with this constant issue? I believe we need to be patient with everyone (as the Bible says in 1 Thess. 5:14) and we need to try and keep our unity at all costs (Ephesians 4:3 and Romans 12:18). We need to realize that some issues are simply not worth arguing about, and to perhaps remind ourselves of that from time to time by reading Romans 14.

James Boice wrote an article about how to get along with other Christians. You can find the full article here. In it, he talks about Phil. 4:2-5. I particularly like his take on verse 5.

He writes, "...Paul says that Christians are to let their 'moderation to be known unto all men.' Moderation here is not the same thing as temperance, which is mentioned as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. It is a different word from that. In fact, it is an unusual Greek word and one that does not even occur in the classical Greek before Paul's time. He may have coined it. Literally, it means "reasonableness" or "being reasonable." It conveys a warning not to be unduly rigorous about unimportant matters. That does not mean that Christians are to be compromising in their doctrinal beliefs. Paul is not talking about doctrine here...and he is not talking about compromise with the world's standards of conduct either...Actually, he is merely saying that those who profess the name of Christ should be a bit bending in their conduct, especially where other Christians are concerned. They should not be brittle. Neither you nor I are to have a personality so inflexible that people bounce off it like a tennis ball bouncing off a stone wall."

Are there any issues of low importance that you have been "stone wall-ish" about? On the other hand, maybe you've been like the "Midwestern" in the church who's speeding ahead with new ideas faster than the "Southerns" are ready to deal with.We could all use a little compromise. The last thing we want is a church full of Zaxes! (Watch the video...it's describes the church a little too accurately in less than four minutes).

Moral of the stories...
*The world is gonna move forward. Let's move with it as a dynamic, transformational church.
*As we move forward, let's be "moderate" with each other. There's a compromise somewhere between 5 and 80 MPH.
*And for goodness sake, Nashville! Be prepared for a light dusting every once in a while. :-)