It originates from the Columbia Glacier of Jasper National Park, Alberta, and flows 1,231 km (65 miles) to the Peace/Athabasca Delta near Lake Athabasca. Eventually its waters empty into the Arctic Ocean. This wide meandering Athabasca River at this time of year, November, is beginning to freeze over. As I drive across the bridges that span this river that join the north and south communities of Fort McMurray, Alberta, I see the expanding chucks of ice jostling one another. It seems like the very river itself is slowing its pace “down north” in preparation for the arrival of this season of winter. We are donning warmer clothing and more sure footing. The air is crisp and cool (we call it a dry cold)! Snow mobiles are beginning to appear and hunting season is in full swing. Someone recently told me that in this Wood Buffalo Municipality of Northern Alberta, hunters are able to get four deer and one moose per season (they are certainly the envy of hunters of many other Canadian provinces). It appears that the key to living here is to welcome each season as it comes and take the best that it offers.
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
Even the winter reminds us of the creativity and love of God. “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.” Genesis 8:22. “You made both summer and winter.” Psalm 74:17. “He directs the snow to fall on the earth…God’s breath sends the ice.” Psalm 37:6, 10. “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.” Isaiah 55:10. And my favourite “snow” verse: “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow.” As we see the snow descending from the sky, so too, because of the sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, God invites us to enter into a relationship with Him, where we are made “white as snow.” Welcome the winter in relationship with our Creator!