saturated by the smell of burnt rubber

I find myself saturated by the smell of burnt rubber.

In Minnesota we have this thing called "winter"

... or rather...

In the heart of winter you will find this concept that we have learned to call "Minnesota"

Recently, as my cousin phrased it.. "Jack Frost has decided to leave his excrement everywhere" meaning.. we have gotten a ton of snow... also, it has been pretty cold. Jack Frost has a case of Ganga Gut and has showered us with his fluffy and whimsical waste.

When the temp stays below a certain number and the sun decides to take a vacation, that snow will continue to pile up. Occasionally it will warm up just enough to melt the snow so that it can coll again and turn into some kind of super-material that is both a ridiculously strong adhesive and a freakishly slick surface.

Occasionally a car will be left unattended during one of these cycles, and it creates a bit of a nuisance to get unstuck. after a couple of these cycles it becomes a NASA sized problem. Three or more cycles.... the snow, the ice, and the car are no longer separate... an unholy and supernatural bond is formed that is nearly impossible to break.

My fiancée's car found itself deep into one of these unholy unions. She has been away from Minnesota, while her car remained in this frozen wasteland... and after about a month and a half.. this unidentifiable chunk of metal and ice was disturbed from it's deathly slumber only to find itself being attacked by a team of loyal winter warriors and a terrible battle ensued.

Not to draw out this ridiculously long and embellished story any more... but after a good hour of hard work and engineering... involving digging the car out of it's crystal grave, jumping the "Dirty Gurdy" (car name), trying to pull the beast out with "the black beauty" aka "the black pearl" (jeep name), melting the 6 inches of snow beneath the jeeps tires til I became saturated by the smell of burnt rubber, and eventually pulling some more manpower into the ordeal... did we finally release the ice princess from the arctic-cold iron grasp of Ol' Jack Frost.

what did we learn?

well, if I ever have grand kids I will probably fill them up with so many tall tales that "fluffy and whimsical waste" will be dripping out from their ears.

and

I think life is full of metaphors if we take the time to learn from simple things.

I think that we have negative things build up in our lives if we are not being active by either taking steps forward or being mindful of our surroundings and protecting ourselves from "the elements".

Too much of either one can be dangerous. if you are driving all the time you will probably not get frozen into the driveway.. but if you don't take a break you will eventually fall asleep at the wheel and crash into a ditch or another car, etc, etc...

However

If you never take your car out to drive you will end up getting snowed in and stuck... When the time comes where you are forced to move it will be painful, awkward, difficult, something might crawl into it and die... and there is a chance your battery will have lost it's charge somewhere along the way...

I think in regard to faith it is very easy to fall into one of these two categories.

Always moving

or
Always waiting

There are benefits to both moving and waiting, and finding a harmonious balance between the two is very important.

If we find ourselves always moving, we do run the risk of burning out, being too heavily goal or task oriented, losing track of why we are moving, comparing ourselves to others.. to name a few.

If we find ourselves always waiting it is easy to grow complacent, it becomes more difficult to take steps forward, we can focus too much on ourselves and seemingly "personal growth", we can lose accountability and fellowship, etc...

Now if we keep a balance of moving and waiting we can begin a harmonious rhythm that is sustainable and allows for true growth. We need to take steps forward and be active as followers of Christ while at the same time recognizing the need for a sabbath and for rest and meditation on God.

It kind of boils down to this...

Love God: Waiting on God and resting in Him. Taking time to increase in understanding of our call to follow Christ and growing in intimacy with God. Taking time to be realigned in understanding the cost of following Christ.

Love Others: Moving with God. Actually demonstrating your beliefs in tangible ways that have an actual impact outside of the community of believers. Hiding it under a bushel... no.


So... let's learn from the little things in life and continue to walk this thing out.