Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

This past week there has been no doubt that winter has arrived in central Illinois. It has already been an eventful one - Josh and I were driving through the snow last Thursday night and lots of church events were cancelled yesterday because of the ice.

I have a love/hate relationship with winter weather. I hate that it slows me down (having to scrape the car, making road conditions questionable - and thereby affecting my plans). But...once I've slowed down...I usually realize that it isn't so bad. In fact, sometimes it's a blessing to be forced into a slower pace.

This weekend as I've been driving, I've been amazed by what ice does - how it attaches itself to literally everything. Yesterday, I realized that it had somehow attached itself to individual blades of grass. I don't remember ever seeing this before (though I'm sure it's not uncommon)! How is it that huge trees have branches fall because of the weight of the ice - and yet individual blades of grass can be covered with a protective coating of ice. It's as though someone came with a wand and froze things instantly. It's totally fascinating and distracting to me! I was at a stoplight this morning near church, and there were several tufts of grass sticking out of the sidewalk that were covered. They looked like little icy sea creatures!

I had some fun yesterday experimenting with my new camera attempting to capture some of these wild images. (I'm no photographer, but the artist in me enjoys trying to see the world through a unique lens.)

YouTube Moments

I know lots of YouTube links get forwarded around, but there are a few that I found worth sharing.

First, I'm super excited about the Kenya projects our church has been able to participate in lately. As a follow-up to their trip, my friend Chris made some videos to show his junior high students. I watched them this past week in my office, and I was a mess.

• Here's one that talks about what life is like for junior high age kids in Nairobi. The interviews with the kids at the end just floor me.
  
• Here's a two-part piece that shows what the junior high kids' summer fundraising project was able to accomplish. (We're showing a short clip from this in our worship services this weekend.)

Second, a video from the Worship Arts team at Community Christian in Naperville about slowing down. I'm convinced that some of the best ideas are the most simple.