22 below this morning.
High of 11 below around lunchtime.
15 below now that the sun's gone down.
But it is a relative cold.
Folks in Fairbanks, Alaska think this is spring.
Folks in the South would think that purgatory and parts south have frozen over.
All what you're used to, I guess.
But it's still cold.
Honkin' cold.
I'm stoking the little woodburner. It valiantly sits there in the living room, glowing while trying to push back the cold.
I think I might have finally felt my toes just now.
But the little burner does an admirable job as long as I keep chuckin' in the wood. About a stick an hour keeps things above freezing.
Still not a tropical experience, but warmer than the outdoors right now.
I start to throw another piece of the two year old, greyed maple into the stove's glowing maw.
Huh.
Did you ever take a good look at a piece of firewood?
Pretty mundane, plain stuff.
Little chunks.
Nothing great, polished, or ornate.
Kinda dirty and rough.
And not too pretty.
Just little chunks of wood.
But look how they affect the world around them.
Huh.
But . . .
Only if they catch fire.
I settle back in the Chair, looking at the glow coming through the glass doors of the woodstove.
A swig of the Elixir pulls a thought from the glowing embers.
It's a cold world out there - in more ways than one.
Huh.
I grapple with a thought, trying to remember it.
More Elixir.
Oh, yeah.
It was a quote from a seminary prof who was giving his young charges advice for their upcoming
ministries.
"Just let the Lord set you ablaze," said the old man, "and the world will come out to watch you burn."
I'm smiling like an idiot, mesmerized by the sudden burst of flame behind the glass.
Can you hear Him chuckling as He lovingly puts us into those unique, combustible situations.
"Catch fire, little chunk of wood.
Warm the world. Burn on."