Minneapolis

We love this city a lot.
Fall/Winter or Falter has arrived. Gone are the unusually warm days of late October/early November.
Snow. Ice. Sleet. Freezing Temperatures.

I love Falter. In Arkansas or Missouri you experience a kind of Falter, but not quite the same as Minneapolis. Here the leaves change, Fall is present and beautiful. Then a few days later the temperature drops quickly and it begins to snow. And is stays this way, only getting colder, until March, April or May.

The temptation is to withdraw inside yourself and inside your house. The temptation is to not interact, go outside or do much of anything. But this is not good. We need to be outside. We need to be with people. All the same, I feel this is a season for solitude. I hear God speaking to the depth of my soul to come be with him and only him. I awaken earlier in the mornings naturally because i go to bed earlier. It is dark here by 5:30pm. Rather than being down about this i choose to embrace the natural season changes.

I am reading John 15 a lot lately. Along with it i am reading Andrew Murray's Abide in Christ. If you have not read this book, or any book by Andrew Murray, i strongly recommend it. This particular book is broken up into 31 short chapters. The idea is that you read one a day for a month. This is what i am hoping to do. The chapters are short but profoundly deep. One thing is for sure, Jesus never called us to a one-time 'salvation prayer.' He called us to a life of deepening abiding in him. It has to be constant! If we stop abiding for a second we die because as the True Vine, he is our only life source.


So, this winter, or Falter, as we have right now in Minneapolis, listen for God's voice calling you away from busyness, distractions and lesser loves. Respond by setting aside time each day to be still, to pray, to reflect, to read. He will meet with you. He will strengthen you. He will break you. He will set you free.

Peace be with you.