Cabin Fever

Winter has finally arrived in Pittsburgh. Of course it took it until late February to early March to get here! We have been below freezing for a while and having just left weather.com I noticed that it will remain the same here for the next week with one day’s reprieve. It is downright depressing to look at the forecast, even if weather is an inexact science at best. What makes it worse yet, it is March!! People expect it to be starting to warm up! (Yeah, yeah, my friend in Colorado will rub my nose in it about how nice it is in Colorado Springs. And he is right. But I have to deal with it here since this is the place God has called me.)

I have noticed a very interesting effect this weather has had on folks. Everyone is getting cabin fever. They have not been able to get out and do the outdoorsy things they like doing, me included, and it is starting to affect their behavior. Here is where I have noticed it . . . in their driving. People are driving like maniacs. They do often it seems, but more so now than usual. I see more speeding, more traffic lights being run and more tailgating going on. Why is this the case? I think that it exhibits the fact that our very make up by our creator is to be people in community, not isolated in our own shells and dwellings.

Herein is a good lesson for the church. We are not meant to be isolated either. We are supposed to be in community with other believers and with those who are not yet believers. How else do we encourage one another and reach out to others? It cannot occur in isolation. It is true in our relationships within and without the church. I will write a bit more about that and my views on the Christian Ghetto in the next 2-3 days. But for today, the lesson for me and us all is to be sure we in the church are relating with others. We need the interaction, the accountability, the support, the love, and the challenge that community brings. Let’s not run from the very thing we need. We are not turtles. We cannot exist within our shell.