The tempest comes out from its chamber,
the cold from the driving winds.

Job 37:9

I woke up at 3am this morning and looked at my phone. It was -12 degrees out. That’s MINUS 12! I think it hit -17 sometime before dawn. I’m certain I’ve never experienced temperatures this cold before, and hopefully never will again. Still, I was warm and protected, so I just lay there, only a couple feet from the danger lurking on the other side of my bedroom wall, and I thought.

I thought about the time when I went camping and started shaking because I couldn’t get warm.

I thought about my church members, and hoped everyone’s furnaces were functioning.

I thought about my parents, and my in-laws, and hoped they had power, and plenty of blankets.

I thought about people without a good shelter, people who have fallen through the cracks, people whose lives might be in danger.

I thought about utility workers, braving the frigid temperatures to keep the rest of us safe.

And the more I thought, the more I realized I was praying. Praying for a world that can be so cold. Praying for a Spirit that can thaw it. Praying for the deficiencies in my own faithfulness, the “negatives” and the “minuses”.

I prayed in the middle of a frigid night, for the Refiner’s Fire…

And as the temperature slipped to -13,

I counted the warmth I felt inside

as a Plus.

Have a great week,

Mitch