Cold and Heat

Recently, in reading through Genesis, this verse stuck out to me.

 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." [Gen 8:22 ESV]

God says these words to Noah, after making His covenant with him after the flood. It is a reminder of God's power over nature and his promise to sustain all things by his power. When we moved to Texas, we were expecting that the heat of the summer season would be a challenge to us. We never expected the winter to challenge the limits of RV life! This past week, we, like most of the South, experienced extreme winter weather. With the near failure of the electric grid we were left without electricity for hours at a time. Thankfully, our trailer battery kept our furnace running! Early Tuesday morning I was listening to the blower get fainter and praying for the power to come on. Eventually the furnace died and I texted Ed to come home from work.  One second later the electricity came on! Tuesday we were without power for 13 hours, which was too long for the battery, but Ed was able to charge it with his truck. We did not use our lights or other electricity but we were able to run our furnace the whole time. We were also able to cook food on the propane cooktop. We were cold, and thankful for winter clothing, but we were able to make it through! I know many of you prayed for us as you heard the news. We are thankful for your prayers.

Ed continues to plug away at his classes. He is currently completing work for a 4 credit class on the Four Gospels. He plans to take classes each month from now through June. At that point he will have 5 classes left. After talking with our bishop, he has decided to take a break from classes, in July and August, to focus on the ordination exam. He will be given a month to complete the written exam. Lord willing, he will be ordained as a deacon later this year, and then complete his remaining classes. At this point we plan to stay in Dallas until Ed has completed his M. Div. degree, although his remaining classes can be taken via external studies.

Esther and I have enjoyed a new past time, figure skating! Due to a generous Christmas gift from a friend we decided to let her take ice skating lessons at the mall. They have a good program and she has enjoyed the lessons and practice. We have been going together twice per week. We both enjoy it so when her session ended, we decided to both take lessons! It has been a good outlet. Being in the mall, the rink is strict on mask wearing so we have felt comfortable participating. Often there are other children skating and she has really enjoyed that!

As we continue to struggle through the ups and downs of life, we are continually drawn to our Savior, Jesus, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Hebrews 1:3a