Shiver Me Timbers!

We have hit a cold spell in Visalia. The past few nights the temperature has plunged below freezing! The temperature during the day has been reaching a very mild 50 degrees. Lucky for me, I work inside a nice warm office all day. I even have a portable heater under my desk, keeping my feet warm. Sure, I have plenty of sweatshirts and windbreaker jackets, but when everyone else starts to put on their warm Winter coats, I am left behind. However, the only time I must brave these adverse weather conditions is if I have a special event to go to. This past Monday was one of those times.

I had been notified the week before that Visalia's annual Christmas parade down Main Street was set for Monday. Several of my youth were to be involved in the parade and still more would be in attendance to watch. In fact, approximately 20,000 people would be at the parade to watch the entries follow the parade route down Main Street, the core of our small town. At about 3pm, 4 hours before the parade were to start, I received a text message from one of my youth, inquiring if I had planned to attend. Amidst all the weekend activities and the list of tasks I needed to accomplish this week, I had completely forgot about the parade. This wouldn't have been such a bad thing, (because I had no other plans for the evening in place) except I hadn't worn so much as a sweatshirt to work that day. To add to that, I had nothing that might keep me warm in subzero temperatures. I quickly drove home and picked up a windbreaker to go with my long sleeve shirt and undershirt already in place and ran out the door. I arrived at the parade around 5:30pm, early enough to get a curbside seat, and already the temperature was almost unbearable. I sat there shivering all night while band after band, after float after fire truck paraded by, filled with people with nice warm Winter coats and gloves waving and wishing me happy holidays. I saw many of my youth there that night, yet what I take away from this experience is the thought that frostbite would probably really hurt. I got home that night at about 9:30pm. I quickly turned on my heater and found the heaviest blanket I had and wrapped myself in it and was still cold for the next two hours!

I can't help but compare this experience with our position in this world as Christians. We are called to be in the world, not of it. This means that we go to church, we read our Bibles, and we pray daily, in the safety and comfort (and warmness) of the kingdom of God. Yet we are called to much more than that as followers of Christ! We are called to brave the cold weather of the world. We must go out and bring people back in to the warm. When we go, however, we must take with us the coats and gloves God has supplied us with, or else we get caught up in the cold and may not make it back. If we stay in the warmth and never go out, we have disobeyed God, and not lived the life that he has called us to. Our love for the people caught in the cold must match his love for the people caught in the cold. I vow to be prepared for the Christmas Parade next year!