The first frost warning of the season came last week, and, sure enough, as we headed for church on Sunday, the front lawn was covered by a coat of icy crystals. With colder mornings headed our way, I’ve pulled out my long sleeve running shirt and my leggings along with a pair of warm gloves for my pre-dawn jogs. I will add another layer of clothing for the cold mornings of January, but this will do for now.

In fact, my winter weather gear is more for my comfort than for protection from anything too dangerous. My gloves keep my fingers from getting numb, but there is certainly no threat of something so severe as frost bite. When the morning temperatures drop to the mid-teens or below, I simply stay inside and sip coffee by a warm fire.

While I may not be an arctic explorer, I do appreciate the way a merino wool shirt and those cheap Amazon leggings keep my arms and legs warm on a frost-warning morning run.  Numb fingers are no fun, and the gloves do their job.

The Apostle Paul uses more robust images when he encourages the Ephesians to put on the full armor of God – helmet, breastplate, belt, shield, sword, and shoes. Such sturdy gear, says Paul, will help us withstand the evil one with his flaming darts.

To be sure, Satan’s malicious ways are still at work in our weary world, but maybe sometimes more like bitter cold biting through thin fabric or overwhelming cheap leggings than as flaming darts zipping towards our hearts.

The warm refuge of faith, hope, and love has been left in ruins by modernity and its false gods; we are without defense as partisanship, anger, animosity, and self-concern attack our souls with their steel-cold blades.

The shelter against the cold winds of efficiency and profit once offered by home and church no longer stands in a world of confused identity and assertive individualism. Like January’s cold north wind, injustice and sorrow drive hard at our lives.

This week’s frost warning will turn to a winter storm watch soon enough. Maybe in this El Nino year my last layer of warm shirts, running pants, and another pair of gloves will be enough to keep me comfortable on my morning runs.

For certain, the faith, hope, and love of the Gospel is sure protection against the numbing reality of our cold and heartless world.

In the 26 years I have been posting Friday thoughts in one form or another, I am pretty sure this is the first time I have written about a roadkill. For everything there is a season…

I noticed the carcass at the side of the county road as I was making my way from our house into town. But it wasn’t the usual racoon or opossum. Its black fur with a white stripe gave it away immediately. “Poor Pepé Le Pew,” I thought as I drove by, and for a few seconds did not think much more about it.

Then it hit. 50 yards or so from the scene of the crime, that unmistakable aroma hit my nostrils, even though the car windows were up. In another 100 yards the stench receded. The roadkill’s olfactory assault had been far worse than its visual assault. Continue reading →

We received word earlier this week of Ann’s death. She was 98 years old. Our sorrow, then, is not so much in an untimely death as in the loss of someone so good.

Becky and I knew Ann together and separately. Ann and her family were friends in Becky’s growing up neighborhood and with Becky’s family members of First Presbyterian Church in Santa Cruz, California. Ann and her husband Bob served and led at the church and were perhaps my most important encouragers and mentors when I became Youth and Christian Education Director following my graduation from the university in that town. For both of us Ann and Bob modeled faith and service – a love for Christ and his church – as few others have.

On an evening walk after we heard of Ann’s death, Becky and I shared memories of Ann and her importance in our lives as the sun set golden behind the trees in the neighborhood. The stories and recollections are too many to list, but for both of us the word that best describes Ann is grace. There was a grace about Ann in the way she dressed and the way she spoke, but, more, a grace about her care and love for people, surely a grace reflecting the grace of the God she served all her life. Continue reading →

I have checked, and my friend has missed sending me a message only 3 days since the beginning of August.  Okay, a few of the messages have been a bit saccharine for my taste, but I love them all. I love knowing that sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 every morning I will be greeted by a reminder of God’s faithfulness – and a reminder of a wonderful friendship (along with a chance to keep my Portuguese current).

It is easy to begin the day with the same worry that was on our minds when we went to bed.  Too often my first thought of the day is more anxious than faithful, too distracted by the ugliness of our current cultural moment than focused on the beauty of Christ.

Even that Snoopy meme was a reminder of the goodness of our God. “May God give you a day full of smiles and blessings.  Good morning.” Continue reading →

Becky and I made our return flight from our weekend away on Sunday evening. It was an adventure with moments of doubt and worry, but I did not pray about it much at all.

Our flight home to Fort Wayne had a connection in Atlanta, and when we bought our tickets we gave ourselves plenty of time just in case, 1 hour and 45 minutes. We could have had time for a quick bite to eat, but that was not to be. We needed all the just in case time we could find, and we found barely enough.

When we arrived at our departure airport, we learned the our flight would be about 45 minutes late. Thunderstorms had been delaying flights (and NFL games) across the south. Okay, we might lose our quick bite to eat, but we still had plenty of time. We boarded our late plane and all was well until the thunderstorms showed up.  They closed the ramp and told us to wait.  For another 30 minutes.  Okay, we’d have to hustle, but we still had enough time. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful and it looked like we’d make the Fort Wayne flight with a few minutes to spare. Continue reading →