Unearned Luck

I hate winter. The snow is pretty and the sun, when it is out, is always beautiful, but it ends there for me. It's the miserable cold that blankets Indiana at this time of year I dislike the most. It's like waiting for someone to break your legs. You know it's going to happen and you know when, but there's nothing you can do to stop it. The cold is horrible. It's as rude as a home invasion, as harsh as truth, and as bitter as the next morning. No matter where I go, it's there. In this over-priced box I call home, the only thing kept out by the windows are comatose people and animals, so the cold traipses in and out like drunk guests at a cookout. Whenever the thermostat decides to kick on, it blasts this space with heat straight from Hephaestus' forge. The dry, hot air mixes with the dry, cold air. The air, now devoid of all moisture, sucks it out of me, my sons, the wood, the plants, the dishwasher, towels, cups, the drywall,... I've awoken in the ...

The following was related to me by a friend.  His story made me think very seriously about what an ass I have been in very similar situations. "If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth...If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us....If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us."    -1 John 1:6a, 8, 10 At dinner the other night a friend of mine told me about a date he had had a while back with a very intelligent, very successful woman.  He said that they had had a few, very good conversations before the time they actually went out.  Everything prior to the date seemed to suggest that they would have a very good time together. Their date finally arrived.  Both of them confessed to nervousness and excitement.  She had brought a bottle of wine for them to share, since they had some time to kill before heading to the...