UP ON THE ROOF

“Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.” (Luke 12:3)

This has been an unusually bad winter in the Boston area! Initially, the winter season started easy- too easy. There were, maybe, three dustings of snow prior to December 26. It had to have been one of the least snowy Novembers or Decembers I could ever remember. At my residence, the bulk of the leaves don’t fall until LATE in the season. I often do not have them all up until as late as Nov. 22 or 23. Some years I have not even STARTED raking leaves until Nov. 1 because there were so FEW down that there would be no point in that. IF we were to get a light snowstorm on, say, November 7, and a moderate to heavy one on November 16, it would not be unusual that HALF of my leaves would be on the ground under the snow and I’d be raking them up in April. SOME years, that’s happened! I was SO glad to have ALL leaves raked up well before Thanksgiving Day! But I wondered if the snowless period up to and including Christmas would mean a catastrophic winter forthcoming. Indeed, it DID mean that!

This is now categorized as the 11th snowiest winter season on record for the Boston area since they started keeping official records in 1872, and it’s not over yet! We will likely finish in the top 10, maybe at 7 or 8. The last winters with very heavy amounts of snow were 2005 and 1996. A BIG issue this year has been rooftops and specifically roofs COLLAPSING. Every year, some roofs collapse in the Boston area. Those that DO are usually flat roofs. This year, over 100 roofs have collapsed so far in the Boston area. Many were flat roofs, but not all were. Many were commercial roofs but some were residential roofs. The church building we owned was the former United Auto Workers union hall and it had a flat roof. During snowy winters I’d glance up with some trepidation to see snow piled on the roof. One winter, we hired a crew of about 3 guys to shovel the roof off. I THINK that was 1996. As much as I miss the church being open and pastoring, I do NOT miss that flat roof this year!

At the answering service where I work, we answer for a roof maintenance company. That company has been inundated with calls from homeowners wanting the snow cleared off their roofs. The owner told us he is SO busy trying to keep up with clearing the snow off the roofs of his commercial customers that he just has to say “NO” to all residential requests. We have the job of telling frustrated homeowners “No!” We also answer for companies that rent out apartments and condominiums. There have been scores of callers reporting, “water coming in through the ceiling”...stuff like that. Just yesterday while getting my hair cut the barber asked me if I’d had a problem with water leaking at my residence due to the snow. I was very thankful to be able to tell him we have no problems with it at all. It turns out HE had a major problem with water leaking into his home from snow and ice buildup this year.

Driving around this morning, I was interested to notice that on the SAME street and on the same side of the street, you’ll see some houses with lots of snow and ice on the roof; some with just a little snow and ice on the roof; and some with NO snow and ice on the roof. The old house we live in, which was built around 1892, has absolutely NO snow or ice on the roof right now. We DO have quite a snow buildup on the roof of the house’s small front porch, however. A home renovation expert I heard on the radio said that a lot of the houses that have large amounts of snow on the roof have that problem because the attic area of the house is SO well insulated that the heat from the attic causes the snow on the roof to continually melt and refreeze. This not only creates icicles and ice dams, but causes the snow to become very solid, heavy, and resistant to falling off.

My father was a guy who would tend to overdo everything. I remember that he went wild insulating the attic of our residence (an “oversize Cape Cod” style house) in Canton. The result was snow buildup. He then installed an electric heating wire on the roof controlled by a switch in the basement adjacent to the main fuse box. The home renovation guy on the radio said those heating wires just make things worse by exacerbating the melting and refreezing process and that the electricity used costs a fortune. I know that one time my father FORGOT that he’d turned the heating wire on and left it on for like a month! His electric bill was outrageous! Dad had a new roof put on that house sometime around 1988. I THINK he had the heating wired removed at that time. If I recall correctly, I think he also may have cut back on some of the insulation he’d put in.

One split level house in a suburb north of Boston COLLAPSED and was totally destroyed due to snow on the roof! This stuff gets serious. It’s something how the roof is something you pretty much never think of unless you get leaks or you have inordinate amounts of ice and snow on it threatening collapse or causing water damage. (For instance, the roof on the house we live in was replaced in 2004 after we’d repeatedly had shingles blowing off the house. The previous roof was over 35 years old.)
Today, I couldn’t help but think that this “upper” issue which becomes a major problem when least expected is like a spiritual “upper” issue...that is, where you stand with the “person” up above. I mean WAY up above. I mean GOD.

The way many people just ignore their roofs, many people just ignore God or say that God doesn’t exist.

Others are like my father, trying to do all sorts of efforts to make things right, not realizing they are only complicating things and making matters worse, You see, you CAN’T make things right with God on YOUR terms any more than my father could solve that snow buildup problem on his roof HIS way.

If your roof is “prepared”...if the shingles are in good shape, etc., and you haven’t over insulated or made other mistakes, and if it’s not completely flat, you probably won’t have much of a problem.

If you follow the steps in the New Testament that tell you how to get right with God, you won’t have a problem spiritually when you it’s time to depart this life and meet God.

Think about that this winter as you drive along and notice the contrast in roofs. If you want to know more about the relationship with God that He desires for you, I’d be happy to respond to your inquiry!