I'm NOT driving tomorrow

Brrrrrr....I would be typing with ten icicles right now if my nephew hadn't given me a pair of gloves to wear...Oh, they were so wonderful today...it was just my ears and nose freezing, no fingers joined in! ;-) Yesterday it was raining most of the day, then last night a cold front blew in and it snowed and all of that water froze. The roads were anti-hellish (since hell is so hot... ;-) --but not heavenly either)...well they were bad. The van slipped and slid a bit on my way into work...but it wasn't too bad, except that it was my first time ever driving in the snow and ice.

I will definately post links to pictures (once I can downsize them and upload them via this computer) of my day today...and I'll try to get it done Christmas Eve, aka tomorrow... ;-) We ran into a few problems during the day, but nothing insurmountable. It was on the drive home that I was really praying...not so much for safety, as I know that whatever happens to me God is in charge...I just wanted peace about that and calmness so I could drive without being a nervous wreck. Actually the main roads were good, people had been driving on them all day and so they were just a bit moist, but with no snow or ice left. Once I got to the subdivision I met Larry and he took over driving. It was tricky since the roads had essentially turned into sheets of ice. Utilizing some ingenuity and kitty litter (borrowed from a neighbor) Larry eventually got the van into the driveway and I got to go inside to warm up. But Larry (and the weather team) said that it would only get worse tomorrow...so I called in and told UPS that because of conditions in the subdivision I wouldn't be coming into work tomorrow...my last day... :( I could use the hours, but not the grief and danger required in exiting the subdivision and quite possibly not returning until after dark again. I've had my first taste of very icy weather, and I don't like it at all. Well that isn't quite true...if I don't have to drive then I like it as it makes for some really good pictures, but otherwise I can leave the ice behind me.

One last note, a good one. As we were driving back to the center my driver (Tom, one I'd not ridden with before) turned to me and said that he had a question, one that he asked of all his helpers. He asked me the classic "if you died right now where would you go?" question. I of course answered heaven and proceeded to answer his follow-up questions. However I was a bit shaky with the answers since I'd studied in an environment where salvation was assumed and other aspects of theology were studied...I'd not had anybody ask me that question in quite a while, it had often just been assumed. Near the end of the conversation I made mention of the fact that I really like the passage in Genesis where God told Moses to tell the people that the God who sent him was "I AM." That is really such a powerful statement that I don't think everyone always considers fully. He always is, and he doesn't need to say "I--the God of the universe who created and sustains everything and knows everything about you--am." Instead he just simply says "I...AM." Wow. And then when Christ says this you can understand why the Jews thought he was blasphemous. As C.S. Lewis said, Jesus was either a lunatic or the Son of God. No sane "good teacher" would say and claim all of the things that Jesus did.

Okay, it is time for me to hit the sack...or perhaps catch up on a few pages of reading. :-) Night.

~Matt