Back Home in Iowa

After traveling half way across the country last week, 1,600 miles one way, it's good to be home.  I will have to admit that I enjoyed my brief time down south.  I had only been to an ocean once before in my life and to be able to come back to wintry weather and talk about wading in the water under clear blue 80 degree skies as the palm trees waved in the breeze has been a lot of fun.

Best of all, I made it back to Chicago without freaking out.  Airplanes and I just don't get along usually.  Once I arrived at in the windy city, my adventure really began.  What normally would be a 5 hour drive home, turned into 10 hours.  I felt like I was living "Trains, Planes & Automobiles."  Along the way, I ran into rain, sleet, freezing rain, slushy and ice covered roads, power lines hanging down onto the highway, more cars & trucks in the ditches than I could count, and during the last 20 miles a near complete white out.  I made it through all that, starting with one car in Chicago, switching to another one in Cedar Rapids and then completing the final leg of the trip in my son's car that I picked up in Cedar Falls.

I talked to my wife about once an hour during my journey home.  What in the world did we ever do without cell phones?  And more important than that, what do people do who don't have the power of prayer on their side?  And believe me, when I was only about 10 miles from Sumner on a road I've driven hundreds of times, but was feeling like I was lost, prayer sure came in handy.  Julie had been trying to tell me for hours how bad conditions were, but I thought she was exaggerating the situation, so I put her off when she asked me about canceling worship on Sunday.  Some day I may learn to listen to her.  It didn't take me long to realize as I got closer to home that it would be foolish to try to hold worship services.  Most of NE Iowa was without electricity and still is today. 

Well, that's my adventure.  And if you're wondering, no I'm not joining Jason in Florida.  Iowa is my home and where my heart is, despite the nasty weather we get once in a while.