How does this work?

Our University is closed this morning. I have the place pretty much to myself.  No students are visible anywhere.  I know my 0800 Measurement students are grieving the loss of today's knowledge.  we are closed because the nighttime temperatures were near freezing and we had precipitation off and on all night and this morning.  Out my window I see the large flat puddles in the grass indicating the soil is saturated.

When I arrived before 0800 this morning I notice the grass in front of our building had at least a couple dozen robins scattered across it, like crumbs on an empty cornbread plate.  Now as I look out I can see a robin bathing in a large puddle of what has to be coooold water! How can they do that?  How can they live through the night, summer and winter, hot and cold, with just one set of clothing?

Seeing this reminds me of being in Goosebay, Labrador, early one spring, or maybe the end of winter.  The snow was melting in places but only during the warmest part of the day.  there was mud and puddles everywhere.  There in the street, sitting in a puddle, was about a 2-3 year old boy... wearing nothing but a diaper.  he was playing away, oblivious to the cold and to my shock.  He was just like that robin.

Another time I was deer hunting in below-freezing temperatures and a "wintry-mix" was falling in the woods.  Out walks this doe right in front of me, with ice covering the hair on her back.  She was feeding along in total comfort!

William Cowper wrote it this way in a famous hymn:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Though I am a thermophysiologist, though I understand the powers of metabolic heat and insulation, though I can explain how deer and robins stay warm; yet still I marvel at "His bright designs", and "...scan His work in vain".

I do look forward to the day when, "He will make it plain."

Come quickly L^rd!

Tu Blave

Aficionados of the movie, Princess Bride, which I highly recommend, will recognize the title of this post as coming form that movie.  If you haven't figured it out, it means "True Love" and it is uttered, in "speech impediment style" by the priest at the wedding ceremony.

Here on Valentine's day, what could be a better topic than true love.  If you have not experienced true love, I hope you will someday.  I am not necessarily talking about romantic love for your sweetheart, but true, bona fide love of some other person (though perhaps we should include pets, I choose to leave that for another day).

What is the most common theme for books, plays, movies, songs?  I would guess that it is indeed, "True Love".  Even the most action-packed thriller, say "Star Wars", often has a "true love" theme interwoven.

Why is this? 

I have a hypothesis, as you might anticipate.

My hypothesis is that, true love, human love, rattles around deep within our soul as the highest thing imaginable for humans.  As you might anticipate, my argument is that "true love" has best been expressed in G^d's love for mankind, evidenced in many ways.  The greatest example being the sending of his Own Beloved SON to reconcile man to G^d in a love relationship. 

But why did G^d allow man to fall?  The short simple answer is that "true love" must always be voluntary, never compelled, never predetermined.  We won't chance down that rabbit trail now.

But on our deepest level we realize that "true love" is our highest longing.  Religion (as opposed to a deep relationship with G^d) doesn't always convey this message ion the clearest terms.  Some people, typically those who think themselves especially clever, reject this notion publicly, but deep down, I suspect that most of them know that "true love" is the pinnacle, and everything else is a cheap substitute.

That's partly why Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, and many others vehemently attack this notion that G^d so loved the world that He gave his only Son...  They are fighting a deep internal truth, and they are uncomfortable fighting agasint such a pwoerful foe alone and isolated.  They want to recruit mroe toops.

That is why they are to be pitied, they go along trying tio deny the deepest truth.  How sad to try to fight against "true love".

A Routine Routine

Routine has it's upsides and its downs.  Routines can make life humdrum and boring, or make life comfortable and contemplative.  I have settled into the routine of the spring semester.

Most days involve an early wakeup to get to the UA campus in time to park within a couple of miles of my building.  Monday AM I could take my time, but every other day I either have class or a meeting.  It is good to get up early and get the day started.  I like the early AM quietness.

The week is consumed by classes, meetings, and sitting at my desk, trying to stay a bit ahead of the game.  We have had more classes canceled this term than I can recall in my almost 30 years here.  This really doesn't impact me that much, as a lot of my work can be done from any place with a computer and WWW access.

I have a hypothesis that routine is a mental energy conserving strategy.  We don't have to think so much, we don't have to  figure out what to do, if we simply do what we did yesterday, or last weekend.

And life is pretty much this way.  We fall into a work routine.  Weekends are a bit less structured, but have their own general rhythm.  It's easy to get in this type of cycle... and find that your whole life as slipped by unawares.  How sad for us, and it can happen to any of us, that we lose our life to our routines.

Tempus fugit, as we have observed here before.  What is life but a vapor...

How sad it must be, to reach the end of your life, and look back upon nothing but routine.  But maybe there is another way.  Maybe we should look to the future instead.   No not that future.  The "looking  to the future" game is not a good strategy, just look around.  I think it is never a bad idea to look ahead to our future in eternity.

We can invest short term or long term, or eternal term.  But what does that mean?  I guess that's another post for another day.

Southern Snow (last snow post for a while)

As I explained earlier, snow is a rare occurrence for us US southerners.  Soooo, when we get a snooooow, we make the most of it.

First, of course, everything grinds to an absolute halt.  We carefully planned our trip yesterday from work to home to avoid the big snow-rush-hour.  We made it home without any undue delay or problem.  We didn't even skid.  Which brings our first southern tradition.  One of my favorite... never mind.  One of the favorite snow pastimes of young men in this part of the world is finding an empty parking lot and sliding around in our cars.  You get going and then you suddenly cut your wheel and have a blast.  Although this is quite juvenile, it doesn't sound as bad if you explain that you are just experimenting with ways to get out of a skid.

Another favorite is sledding.  I am guessing we are one of the few families in Alabama to have a genuine sled.  Our dates from 1997 when we lived at USMA, West Point, NY.  It still has the writing on it showing our address.  Even since yesterday and despite the very low overnight temperatures (15 F), a substantial portion of the snow had already evaporated (that's right, in dry air snow can evaporate without going through a liquid phase (called sublimation).  Our grandson Jem was close by, so we dusted off (literally) the old sled and gave him a thrill.

He enjoyed it almost as much as the adults.

The most unusual southern tradition to those accustomed to snwo is snow cream.  Yep, snow cream.  You take clean snow, mix in sugar, milk, and vanilla, and voila' you have something remotely similar to vanilla ice cream.  It's pretty good, but mostly a tradition.  We were surprised to learn that the Swedes never do this and most had never even heard of it. 

Alas, all that snow going to waste!

But that's not the saddest thing going to waste.  I think of all the potential in Christians that goes to waste.  I think of all the lives of my loist friends that are going to waste.

I guess wasting a little snow, and the pleasure it could bring ain't worth mentioning.

Swedish Snow

Last blog i wrote about our snow fall in Alabama.  At that point, all I had done was sit in my second-story office and wathced the snow fall on campus.  I saw hordes of students out on the huge quad having a major snowball fight.

My daughter Anna and our grandson Jem struggle to get home, so they stop by the office to let the traffic clear a bit.  Apparently EVERYONE sent their workforce home at about the same time.

It's no problem for me. I can work at my computer regardless of the snow.  After a couple of hours, Anna and Jem want to head for home, so we all head for our cars.  It really hasn't dawned on me that my car was parked with NO snow, and now it has a couple of inches covering every flat surface.

Now let me tell you about typical southeastern USA snow.  Here are a few descriptors:

• Usually comes in later Spring- March is popular
• Usually comes at night due to the lower temperatures
• Usually melts very quickly
• Usually is very wet  snow.

Most of these are due to the warm temperatures that characterize this section of the country, even in late January.  Today is different, and I notice it as soon as I get to my car.  The snow is dry!  Go figure.  Never seen this... in Alabama.  This is Swedish snow.  I am guessing it didn't make good snowballs.

When I get home, I am able to sweep all the snow off both our cars using a broom!  Go figure.  Dry snow.  Dry snow means cold snow.  We have had an unusually long run of unusually cold weather.  Dry snow.


This global warming is freezing me. (Before you take the time to explain to me that weather and climate are two different things, go sweep your sidewalk.)

Snow in... Alabama

When we lived in Sweden we started this blog.  Hence the url.  In Sweden we got lots of beautiful snow on a frequent basis.  It was beautiful.. and ordinary.  It was new to us though, and yuo may recall some of the pictures we took and posted.

In Sverige, snow is part of life and they were very well prepared.  Remember, even the bike tires had metal studs.  We learned to cope with it rather quickly and came to enjoy it.

At the moment it is snowing nicely in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  Snow is NOT part of life here, and that makes a huge difference.  Most of the schools here closed down JUST in ANTICIPATION of the snow.  For those in other countries let me highlight.   We have NO:

• Snow removal equipment
• Sand spreading equipment
• Auto snow tires, or bicycle snow tires
• Ice cleats for our shoes
• Warming fires in the parks
• And worst we have no brullars (delicious pastry).

But, the excitement that snow engenders here is remarkable and likely unbelievable to those of you accustomed to snow.  But it is the novelty that makes it more interesting for us here.

There are only a few one-time, genuinely novel, events. I can only think of a few:

• Creation of the world
• Fall of mankind
• Redemption of mankind on the cross
• Resurrection of The Christ defeating death
• Coming again of The Christ in Glory.

I'm guessing that last one will be considerably more exciting than Snow in Alabama!

The last Deer Hunt Blog (for a while anyway)

 

You will have to forgive me for getting off track last blog post.  Let’s get serious and talk about WHY deer hunting has such appeal, at least to about 11 million US hunters.

Deer hunting presents a terrific challenge.  The whitetail deer is one of the most cautious and well-equipped animals in the Americas.  A mature whitetail has:

• A terrific sense of smell that is their first line of defense,
• A 310 degree field of view for their vision,
• Huge ears that can rotate to pinpoint the slightest sound,
• A cautiousness that makes getting close to one for very long, a great challenge.

I mentioned two blogs back that the quiet solitude is terrific.  That quiet solitude not only gives time to meditate, but also time to read.  I read more during deer season than any other time of the year, except the beach, which is probably a close second.

I love the tastes of deer woods.  Early in the season there are muscadines galore where we hunt.  Muscadines have a special meaning for me, because my Dad introduced them to me, and I think of him when I taste that sweetness.  From beginning to end, sugar berries, also called “bush huckleberries” by some folks, are another time honored tradition from my youth, and recalls long walks along the river with my Pop and brothers.

Next to the taste are the sights and smells of the woods.  The fall leaves contribute both.  The leaves of the tulip poplars, the hickories, the various oaks, and one of my favorites, the beeches decorate the forest first, then the forest floor.  The woods has its own smell, which varies from time to time and place to place.

The weather presents its own challenge.  Really cold, like 21 F calls for real insulation.  A few years ago I figured out somehow that I could pack in an old, light, cheap sleeping bag and stay warm under every cold we have here.  If it is under 32 F, I’m probably packing my bag.

There’s more I could tell you, but you probably can’t handle it now.  Suffice it to say, that there is a lot of pleasure to be had in hunting. 

Will there would be deer hunting in heaven?  Sure, someone has to furnish the venison.