SNOW!

Today my lovely friend Katie dropped by for a visit while i was at home this weekend. While she was showing me pictures from her recent trip to Spain, her cell phone rang...
Katie: "What? No way! Seriously?" etc...
She hung up and looked at me.
"It's snowing in Montrose!!"
My mouth dropped open in surprise..."What?!"
Montrose is about 5 minutes west of where i live...so we excitedly grabbed our jackets and cameras and ran out to drive in search of this rare phenomenon.

About 10 minutes later, we were squealing at sight of the opaque greyness hovering over the hills ahead of us. It was snow falling!

Literally on the edge of our seats, we searched for the main thoroughfare cutting up into the mountains, and upon finding it, began our ascent.
It started raining. "Well that's a good sign," i said.
about a half minute later, the rain got harder.
"Is it hail?" said Katie. It wasn't.
I must admit, i was a bit skeptical. I had never seen snow in our area in all my life. I was about to voice my doubt when suddenly i noticed that the rain was no longer...rain...
It was snow.
The Innocence Mission played out of my car stereo as we drove further up into the hills, adding to the mysterious beauty emerging around us as lawns, trees, cars and rooftops were blanketed with a pure whiteness virtually alien to my Southern Californian mentality. It got harder to steer, as the street was covered with slush, and after a few minutes i pulled over and we got out.
It was quiet. I'm completely unaccustomed to water in any form falling from the sky...and not making a sound. It was incredible...it was magical.


We drove until the road ended, and looked into a deep ravine swirling with millions of peices of white. There were 4 ecstatic children out throwing snowballs in jeans, cheerleading skirts and jackets. It crunched under my feet.
I picked it up...it was soft.

We returned shortly to the house and picked up my sister to get some hot chocolate and drive back up again so she could see it. But alas...
It was gone. It had literally melted away. As quickly as snow in Southern California.
wait...

When Katie and i were driving down the hill earlier after our excursion, we gazed clear out over the city, at the mountains, the whiteness and the light and the clouds and she said,
"What a beautiful world God made."
He did.

It makes me wonder what it must have been like before humanity fell, that there can be such magnificence and glory in such a bent (as the Malacandrians would put it) version of creation. I feel like i see little peices of paradise all around me...cherry blossoms, clouds, sparkling blue ocean, gnarled trees, hot drinks on cold days, rolling mountains, the smell of grass, hummingbirds, singing, stars, the touch of a hug, snow...

What could possibly await us when this life is over that is INFINITELY better than all these things?


That's what hope is. That's what love is...
i don't know. I know i'm not as eloquent as some people when it comes to expressing my own thoughts and often i don't even fully understand exactly what it is i'm trying to say.
I guess it just makes me happy. Just purely joyful. I don't feel that enough...and today i did. how lovely...

This was a lot longer than i thought it would be...! i'm going to bed now...

thank you thank you Lord, i don't deserve it