We learn a lot when things change, it mixes up our world, breaking our routine, and it begs us to respond in new ways. Well, an honest to goodness winter storm in Texas is definitely change. Here are some things I have learned/remembered...
1.) Texas weather really is crazy. One day I am wearing shorts and flip flops, the next I am cramming paper towels into the crease around my door to help keep out the frigid air. If Texas were a person, and the weather was its personality, it would be scary. You'd see this really bright happy person, infectiously warm and friendly. You feel safe, so you get close, then BAM, like that (snaps fingers), their eyes turn red, they pick up a butter knife and start chasing after you around the kitchen table. My hometown of New Braunfels survived two five-hundred year floods, that means those floods were so big they should only occur once every five-hundred years, in the spans of four years. Both floods came after droughts. Gives a new meaning to don't mess with Texas doesn't it.
2.) It is not good for man to be alone. Pathetic, that is what I was. Kathleen was down at the ranch when the storm hit. I spent the first day inside, mostly by myself. My sister and I spent some time together, but the bulk of the day was spent alone. Wow, now that I look back at the fact that I wasn't even really alone, it makes it worse. I don't do well alone. Ten times. That is how many times I circled through my apartment trying to find something to do. I kept walking in and out of rooms. It's like when you keep opening the refrigerator, hoping subconsciously that somehow this time the contents will be different.
3.) Texans do not drive well in this weather. Now, my beef isn't cliche. For me, the most frustrating part about driving through the snow with other Texans was seeing how irrational the snow made them. Miles of highway were totally free of any ice or snow, yet almost everyone was still driving twenty miles an hour.
4.) I love cold weather less than I thought. I have always thought that I enjoyed cold weather, and I do, but not that cold. It was miserable. The thought keeps coming up, "People live through this kind of weather for more than half of the year, sometimes longer!" I had to drive down to the ranch to help Kathleen. We volunteered to feed the deer whilst my parents drove to Pennsylvania to take part in a massive hunting convention. All of the deer's water froze solid, and so did the pipes that bring them their water. All of the gates are iced shut. We have no water in the house. It has been... an adventure. We have had to bring them water in buckets to keep them alive. Praise God they have all made it so far.
5.) That I want to be a better man, in Jesus' name. This weather has tested me, and in many ways I have come up lacking. Everything has asked me to exercise patience, but I all too often responded with what my family calls "inanimate object rage". It is one of the few things I wish I hadn't learned from my dad, who in all other ways, is one of the most gentle, noble men I have ever known. It is when you treat something non-living as if it has feelings. For example, you stand up, hit your head on the low-lying ceiling. If you have IOR, then you slap the ceiling back, as if a.) it did something to you apart from exist, and b.) you could somehow get revenge by hitting it back. It's a ceiling! It is a petty trait, and I want it gone. I long to be noble and gentle in response, bearing the fruit of self control. I long to be the kind of man that is exudes grace. Fortunately, God is so faithful. He has not withheld his love from me (that includes His discipline), and I am seeing victory day by day.
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