The Arctic Blast!

You have to love the weather in Texas. It is original at least! You never know what you are going to get. Yesterday we had winter. Who knows if we will get any more winter weather this season but it would be ok with me if we didn't. In Pennsylvania, winter was just something that came and everyone knew it was coming and they paced themsleves to make it throught the weeks of teen and twenty degree weather, the snow and the icy roads. But in Texas, people get crazy!!

It was spitting sleet most of the day yesterday but you have to remember that the day before it had been 80 degrees!! Just about every private school was closed or let out early and everyone was warning you about the dangers of driving. When Dan left for school and work I told him to be careful but I wasn't worried about him driving to work. I was worried about him driving to work with all the other crazies that were driving 20 mph on the interstate that wasn't even very wet! Granted the bridges did get a little slick and caused some significant problems. For example, Dan ran to the library around lunch time. On the way back is a very long bridge that gets pretty steep. Several drivers were having a hard time getting up it. Probably because they were driving 20 mph. Dan saw a woman in trouble and pulled over to help push her car up the rest of the incline. While he was pushing and red in the face with physical exhertion, a woman drives up and rolls down her window. She proceeds to yell at Dan from her window, "Stop it!! Are you crazy!! Don't do it! You are going to die!!" Then she goes on her way.

I assume that she was afraid the car would slide back and pin Dan to the wall of the bridge. I am thankful for her concern for Dan if that's really what she was expressing but I am not completely convinced of that.

The rest of the story goes something like this...a typical Dan story;) As Dan got out of the car to run and help a damsel in distress he locked the door, out of habit, of course! Good habit to have, except when you forget to grab the keys first! SO I get a call from a very flustered and frustrated Dan. I pack all the girls in the car and we meet Dan at work. Luckily someone was nice enough to offer Dan a ride and take Dan to his home to make his telephone call. That doesn't always happen anymore. Anyway when we drive back up to the bridge the police have closed the bridge. I look wide-eyed to Dan and he quickly informs me that he called the police to tell them about the car blocking the middle of the bridge. I guess I misunderstood him because I was sure he told me he pulled over. Apparently not. He just parked the car and ran over to lend a hand. Well, the story ended well despite the drama. Dan got his car and the police were very friendly and helpful. We aren't sure if they closed the bridge because of Dan's car or if they closed it because it was causing so many problems. But either way we have the red cavalier back safe and sound!

As Dan and I were discussing this story later it made me think of the way some christians, myself included, approach spreading the gospel of Christ. We, like that frantic woman, just take enough time to yell the dangers of hell at others with out actually stopping to explain why we are concerned for them or better yet, getting out and helping them ourselves. Jesus ministry was very personal. He always took time to speak with people and love them. Even the woman who was healed by merely touching the hem of his cloak. He stopped and deliberately asked who it was so that he could make a connection with her.

Yesterday, it felt a little like the apocalypse around here!! Everyone was running around like crazy and unfortunately some were only concerned for themselves. That woman that slowed down enough to yell at Dan was either overly nervous or truly concerned for Dan. Her concern was not taken very well by the two men who were straining to help move the car. In fact, it wasn't helpful to them all. Yes, sometimes we are called to point out the dangers of this world and its coming doom to others, but I believe that Jesus, when asked what the most important commandment was, answered like this, "The most important one, ...is this: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.' The second one is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:29-31
They go together. They have to go together. We cannot love others as ourselves if we are not loving God with all we are.

I too often just pass people by. I am in too much of a hurry or to engrossed in my own affairs to take notice of those around me. Other times, I slow down only enough to tell them what's going to go wrong or the danger I can clearly see in their lives. We have to offer the whole picture from beginning to end and sometimes that takes an investment of time and energy. But if we are really loving them as ourselves that won't matter or shouldn't anyway. The message isn't only of sin, eternal damnation and seperation from Christ it is also about the love that caused God to send his Son to this world to take on the sin of the world in order to restore us to a right relationship with Himself. You can't have one without the other. They go hand in hand. We are doomed if you leave out the hope and if you only tell of the hope then we cannot grasp the fullness of that hope.

This apocalyptic ARCTIC BLAST sure did cause me to rethink the way I approach others with the message of Christ and his miraculous gift of eternal life. It also made me smile a little.


But really, it WAS only one day of freezing weather and the whole city goes crazy! If only we(I) could get that excited about the coming of our Lord!