Weather in Indiana

I am from Vermont, the Green Mountain State, tucked away in the northwest corner of New England.

In Vermont we have a saying that goes like this: "Vermont: 11 months of winter and one month of darn poor sleddin'."

Vermonters are used to winter, but they don't tend to like it. Winter is harsh in Vermont, even with the pristine beauty of snow-capped peaks and frozen rivers that sleepily wind their way through water-carved valleys.

So when it turns hot in my new locale, northern Indiana, I like it. I like the humidity. I like to sweat.

But Indiana has only two settings: hot and cold. The in-between times are short-lived, sometimes a day at most. Spring is a season that comes for a short time, usually too early, and then leaves until the arrival of summer. The temperatures go from too-low to too-high all of a sudden. Overnight, even.

Today is a hot one. And I like it. I rode my bike from my house to the church and the breeze was great. With gas at @3.59 a gallon, it makes sense to ride a bike around town. I'm sure there are some who will look askance at me as I pedal my way through the burg of Bremen, but they don't realize that, when they look at me, they are looking at their own future.

The day will come when many others will be joining me, bike helmets and all.

After all, aren't followers of Jesus supposed to be leaders of the pack?

We are told that Jesus is always going before us to the new places he is working (Mark 16:7 [NIV] "But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' ").

We find Jesus in the new places.

Followers of Jesus are people with new ideas, expressed in their behaviors, their stories, the art they produce and the communities they create and inhabit.

In this new season of high gas prices, hot weather (however temporary), wars near and far, may followers of Jesus be found doing new things as they follow their creative/Creator Lord.