“Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite.” – unattributed

Rebekah and I have lived here in North Carolina since the summer of 2013. And I am pretty sure that this is the coldest I have been – certainly for a sustained period of time – since I spent the winter in Bozeman, Montana back in 1975-76.

Granted, Krakow was impressively frosty Christmas a year ago. In fact we can thank our Eastern Europe expedition that we now have “Tundra-appropriate” gear on hand when necessary. We just didn’t think we would have to pull it to the front of the closet here in Tarboro.

To be honest it feels like our house has been transported “way up yonder to the frozen north” and dropped somewhere close to the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire!

How Cold is it?

But I believe the coldest I have ever been was in the south of England on my 19th birthday, when I got caught out riding my bicycle. I was wearing a light jacket and had no gloves when it suddenly started to rain and the temperature quickly plummeted from 50 to 35. I was soaked through in seconds and it took me the best part of an hour to get back to where I was staying. I wasn’t just shivering – my whole body shuddered convulsively to the extent I could hardly operate the bike.

This of course is England’s secret weapon – it’s that combination of cold and wet. Just a few months later I found myself experiencing twenty-five below zero in Montana but it was okay because I was wearing the right gear and, most importantly, I was dry.

The other factor that made the England experience so miserable was that it was my first birthday away from home. So instead of being fussed over by my family and invited to sit by the fire with a hot cup of tea, I just went to my dorm room to dry off.

It turns out that being cold by yourself is the coldest by far.

How to be warm regardless:

Concepts like hot and cold temperature can be measured and described in terms of Fahrenheit or Celsius, but warmth is a word that is best understood around ideas like love and church and family.

It really doesn’t matter what the conditions are like thermally when we know with complete assurance that God loves us and that we are part of a community that embraces us and that cares.

Of course they don’t factor in love on the weather map but to me it’s the most significant variable of all.

Stay warm out there, friends, and know that, not just eternally but in the here and now, you are deeply loved – DEREK