Alaska, Here I Come!

“Yes, well, it's colder than that at Hamilton College. Students' ears are falling off. It ain't Christian.” – Mr. Webb, Our Town, Act III

When I was in 11th grade, I had the privilege of playing the lead role in our school’s production of Thorton Wilder’s Our Town. I portrayed the Stage Manager, who basically narrates the story with a series of soliloquies.

In one of the scenes, Emily Webb, who we learn has died in childbirth, is granted the opportunity to go back and relive one day of her past life. She selects her 12th birthday, a bitterly cold winter day in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. In fact, it is so cold that the town’s constable, Bill Warren, tells Howie Newsome, the town’s milkman, that the reason he’s up so early that morning is because he’s “Been rescuin' a party; darn near froze to death, down by Polish Town thar. Got drunk and layout in the snowdrifts. Thought he was in bed when I shook'm.”

Constable Warren then tells an abbreviated version to Mrs. Webb, Emily’s mother. “I was called up this mornin' to rescue a Polish fella – darn near froze to death he was.” In turn, Mrs. Webb mentions to her husband that it’s “Been right cold” after which Mr. Webb replies with today’s quote above.

I share this long introduction to say this: I hate cold weather. Actually, I don’t just hate it, I despise it with every fiber of my being and every bone in my body. And the older I get, the less I like it, which is one of the main reasons I am so grateful to live in the Sunshine State.

That being said, if tomorrow morning our three kids announced that they were all moving to Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Nome, Alaska – and were taking our six precious grandkids with them – I would be on the next plane, train, or automobile to the Arctic Circle.

You see, as much as I hate cold weather, I love my family more… and I simply can’t bear the thought of being separated from them.

My friend, God feels the same way about you and me. That is why, when our sins threatened to separate us from Him for all eternity, He sent His Son to die in our place on the cross. Jesus paid the penalty for your sins and mine so we could be forgiven and spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Now that’s love that is powerful enough to warm even the coldest (and hardest) of hearts!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President