I do not like to be cold. Once my hands get cold the rest of me is just miserable. One might question my judgement at leaving Los Angeles, where the sun shines all the time.
Yesterday at Joshua Tree, cold, really cold, but when you get moving, climbing or hiking or even jumping in place, your body warms up. After a little while I had to take off the hoodie to dissipate some heat. Dissipate—good word; that’s a leftover from Ryan’s sermon on Sabbath. Luke 21:34 uses the word ‘dissipation’ referring to the squander of life and its resource. Time and devotion, energy, affection… heat.
This morning at 7:31 I’m cold again, but I don’t get to fight back with motion or activity. This morning I have to just stand here and take it. The wind cuts through my two layers, hits me right in the chest and lets me know it’s gonna be a long half-hour. I’m on the platform at San Bernadino train station waiting for Metrolink.
This is my first time riding the train since the cross-country Amtrak ride when I was a kid. I have a vague memory of cornfields flashing by. I remember the feeling of excited freedom, like I could go anywhere in the world. I thought the train actually went wherever I wished it to go. How magnanimous of me to take those other people along.
Ticket purchase was quick and simple. Machines walk you through the transaction. $11 on a debit card and I’m ready to board. I wanted to be sure I’d done it right, so I checked in with the security guard who confirmed that I was now in possession of viable transportation to Los Angeles Union Station. Now all I have to do is survive the cold for 30 minutes.
I tightened up my hoodie and rocked in place from left foot to right. I squirreled and squirmed in hopes of a respite from the biting wind. And I’ve only got to be here for half hour. This poor guy has to stand here all day. This is his job!
I peered around the concrete column between us, smiled and said, “hey man, how do you do this? How do you stand in this cold wind all day?”
“Well, you get used to it, and it’s not so bad.”
I rocked in place another minute or so, then he leaned around the pillar and smiled.
“If you stand on this side of the column, you won’t feel it so much.”
On the other side of the pillar, there’s a spot, about the width of one Lennox, where the wind doesn’t reach. A little bubble of protection, and it even has a supply of direct sunlight to thaw a frozen traveler.
I do not like to be cold. Did I say that already?
It was torturous for me, but there’s always someone else who has had to endure more for longer. Sometimes there’s no activity to fix it—you just gotta stand there and take it. Sometimes, if you consult with one who has stood longer than you, you may be gifted with information or a tool to ease your journey. And... there are safe places appointed, even at the heart of cold.
Thanks be to Josh, my security guard, without whom I would have further dissipated.
Goodnight, Beautiful...
Goodnight Strender
