Cold Drafts, Warm Vents

Many of you that read this blog are in the throes of winter at the moment.  We  Down Under on the other hand, are experiencing heat waves so bad that the newscasters are urging the elderly to stay inside.

So whether your inside because of the heat or the cold, I had an interesting experience this last week, that I think you can relate to.

Have you ever experienced that blast of cold air that takes away your breath when someone opens the door on a winter day!? I grew up in Colorado and I remember it well.  I also remember running as fast as I could after shedding my coat and boots, to the lovely open grid on the floor downstairs where the hot air from the furnace blasted upwards.

This week I got a letter from a childhood friend.  I'll tell you about this couple someday but suffice it to say that after they married and reconnected with God, the two of them became even more treasured friends.  Of course, we were worlds apart geographically and hardly ever got to see them, but we always reconnected every chance we got.

We had heard rumours, and knew vaguely that Steve wasn't well. And then boom! He was gone. So heavy with grief,  I searched out his wife, Janice, and started talking. When she gave me the details of his last few years, I felt that cold blast starting down my collar.  You see, he was a recovered prostate cancer guy who lived more than 10 years completely healed..........and then.....

If you know Tony and me, then you’ll remember that we walked down that same path, but it was only 3 years ago.  We got through it with a clear report, and it seems to have remained clear. That monster seems to have limped away ........but....

I'm sure you can all relate to this.  People talk about those things “that go bump in the night”. They are real, and they try to haunt us. A friend taken suddenly when no one expected. Another friend sliding toward the end at a mind-numbing slow pace. So & so's wife walked out after 35 years.  That grandmother who blasted thru her last yellow light and changed everything......the list goes on.

So sad. So tragic. But, and here’s the good news. What my friend said in the rest of her letter really resonated with me. She wrote, “The last few months were very hard, but we all learned one thing, that God has a plan and it may not even be the one we imagined........but it was His plan and He had it in mind back when He created everything."

I remembered that's pretty much what we felt when our teenager Trevor died.  No amount of cajoling God could change what He had in mind to happen, and after so many years, we can finally see that we will someday look with wonder at God’s Perfect Will. When that happens, we will stand in awe and say, “Thank you God, for that valley!” Not today, mind you, but some day.

So back to that cold draft; we all feel that way sometimes, but we must never forget how good that furnace grate feels when we actually get there!

Tony was reading the other day during our devotions about the disciples walking along the road, despairing that Jesus had been crucified. You can read it yourself in Luke 24:18-24.

Suddenly a stranger was walking with them, and when He asked what they upset about, they explained what had happened and then added, “And what is more, it is now the third say since all this took place.” The cold wind of a failed dream was certainly upon them, and yet, they soon realised they were complaining to the very one they were missing!  

The warmth of that furnace vent, for those of you who remember, is like none other.

God is Good, all the time

Marsha