Bay To Baie - January 7, 2014 South Carolina, 523 miles out from Mobile, 1434 miles to Baie Comeau PART 1

Bay To Baie -  January 7, 2014  South Carolina, 523 miles out from Mobile, 1434 miles to Baie Comeau

PART 1 - 3:56 a.m.

    I want to know what it feels like.

   15 degrees F, that is.  It's been 30 years since we've had such a reading on our thermometers here in Mobile, and it may well be that long before it happens again.  If so, and the Lord tarries, life insurance actuarials suggest that I may not be around for the cold snap of 2044.  Therefore, if I'm going to take a walk in Mobile at 15 degrees, this may be my one chance.  Moreover, when initiating this project, I looked forward to experiencing different meteorological conditions through the passing seasons.  I didn't expect such extreme cold, but here we are, and here I go.

    I write just before stepping out into the frigid polar air that has somehow found its way this far south.  I'm excited by the prospect because I share the sentiments expressed to me earlier today a good friend: "The cold is exhilarating."  Of course, that's easy for me to say since I live in a clime where we rarely experience any long term duration of freezing temperatures.  I fully understand that's not the case with many of you who receive these messages in locales where you have to deal with bitter air for months on end (we have readers in Siberia, for example).  I'd simply say that we have our extreme climate experience in August, when 100% humidity frequently unites with nearly the same temperature.  Many Mobilians thus love cold weather because we usually don't recover from our summers until sometime in February! 

    Again, I want to know what it feels like, which reminds me of a similar, but infinitely greater and more consequential experience of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.  "We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15).  For our sakes, our Savior entered into the emotional and physical sensibilities of the human experience.  He took upon Himself a body and a soul that could experience the joy of raising a damsel from the dead, the pain of buffeting, nails, and thorns, and the grief of being smitten by His own Father on the cross of Calvary (Mark 5:41; Matthew 27:46).  He became as one of us in order to identify with us, and thus to qualify Himself as the Lamb of God who could serve as our atoning Sin-bearer.  "Forasmuch then as we are partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of the same... Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:14; 17).  Yes, the Lord Jesus wanted to know what it felt like.  He had to know what it felt like to be human, to experience the realities of our joys and pains, and to endure the agony of Calvary in order to glory in the joy of resurrection for both Himself and the loved ones He redeems by His risen life (Hebrews 12:2).  As the old hymn proclaims, "Hallelujah, what a Savior!"

    Update: As I prepare to venture into the early morning frost, weather reports indicate we're not going to see that 15 degrees in real temperature.  It's 21, with a wind chill of 8.  Does that count?  I hope so.  I'll send Part 2 after my walk, with a report of what it felt like.  I'm anticipating a particular sensation that illustrates a key Biblical truth.  We'll see.

   

   

    Submission doesn't mean always understanding.  It means trusting and obeying...  I trust You, Jesus!