He causeth the south wind to blow

I was reflecting a few minutes ago how so many things had been cancelled this week: the schools, basketball games, etc. In fact, I heard it said that everything (including OSU) might as well have been closed down for the entire week because the ice wasn't going to melt anytime fast.

But that was before today. I was reading in Numbers about the quail that God sent to the Israelites and this verse in the Psalms sticks out:
Psa 78:26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;

Everyone expected the ice to stay around a while (including myself) but when I got up this morning, there was a steady breeze from the south and by noon, the ice around campus had turned to slush, there was no sliding to be done on it any longer. By later that afternoon, the roads had cleared up. All of this snow came and men, with all of their gasoline and diesel powered machines could barely scratch into the top layer while on the roads. Yet God causes a gentle breeze to blow and it melts before His breath. While it seems like an ordinary circumstance, just marvel at the power! The energy required to melt all that ice is immense, more than the entire city consumes in a year most likely.

It was very fun while it lasted. I enjoyed taking a running start and sliding back and forth from the bathrooms, when we went to Tulsa we "skated" on the ice there though we were without skates (I heard someone brought ice skates to OSU and was skating on the lawn by the library). I actually really enjoyed this storm even though the roads were dangerous.

I had Monday off, so I wrote up and gathered material for scholarship applications, then left close to noon to go to the Noell's house for lunch. Only Alan and Liz were there at the time, the rest had gone sledding and they returned with the report that Laura had bumped her head and Nathan (C) had possibly broken his leg (which it turned out later, he did). After lunch, Stephen and I drove Evelyn back to Tulsa. The ride was fairly uneventful (which I say is always good in this weather) and seemed to go pretty quickly. The roads were clear on the turnpike, for which I was thankful. I'm glad to see the toll money is used for something beneficial! They had done a good job of keeping it clean. The muddy spray from trucks in front of me caused me to have to pull over and wipe the windshield with my jacket however. My windshield wiper fluid was frozen and the wipers had ice on them so didn't do a great job on the window.

We dropped Evelyn off near the library and started back. The sidestreet roads in Tulsa were very bad. I was going about five miles per hour and still sliding when I tried to apply the brakes while going down one hill toward a stoplight. We filled up on gas while a truck nearby, who was hauling a backhoe Bobcat, spun his tires trying to get up out of a small dip in the road. He worked at it for about 10 seconds, his tires flipping up snow and mud all around. I think if he would have eased into it, it might have been better, or possibly worked it so he applied the gas, let the truck rock back, go again, rock back, and so on until he worked up a little momentum, or maybe his idea was just to burn away the ice :) He got away anyhow.

On the way back a dual-wheeled truck passed me and sprayed a wall of muddy water onto my windshield. I could not see at all for a few seconds while the wipers worked furiously. Now how am I going to wash this off? Hmm.....

Tuesday my afternoon class was cancelled so I talked with a couple of professors and met Philip and Liz in the Engineering North office. Philip, as a prospective student, was going to be taken on a tour of ARTC so I tagged along. They had some interesting things down there, a webbing machine (which wound up material such as plastic wrap) and a wind tunnel with thousands upon thousands of straws (drinking straws) at the end to let the air out. Some poor undergraduate was probably locked away down there until he finished gluing these things in place.

Then Philip and I headed back to Tulsa for RUF that evening. We arrived and were leaving the car when I spotted a couple of asian girls trying to get the ice off their windshields, with water bottles no less! They were whacking away with these bottles trying to break the ice. I grabbed my ice scraper and we lent them a hand for a little while. "Oh! Thank you!" they giggled. I had the impression that they weren't engineering students ;)

Evelyn met us in the lobby of her hall and we went over the boys dorms, back to Kevin and Bob's. Kevin started talking about Go and Philip went with David to play the Wii in Spencer's room. I joined them a bit later to watch them having a bowling match. Later, Philip, Evelyn, and myself all had a match, Philip won but Evelyn had three strikes. I had none, though a number of spares :(

It was a lot of fun and I was glad to be able to finally see Wii Sports. Then Kevin challenged Philip and I to the old Smash Bros. and creamed us both.

Kevin suggested a Sushi place but with the time allotted, decided to go to Arby's instead so he, Evelyn, Philip, and myself took a ride in his car while he played a Tribute to the greatest song in the world, which was pretty funny.

Bob and....hmm... the name escapes me.... later showed up at Arby's so I finally did what I have been wanting to do for a while: challenged Bob to arm-wrestling. He's shorter than I am, but built like a tank, arms straining at his sleeves and a thick chest. We sat down at a booth and both pushed, and pushed, and pushed. Physicists would have loved to have pointed out that we were doing no work, for there was no movement going on. After a while, both of us felt like we were not able to push any longer, it was a strange feeling. His hand was turning white but he finally gave a tremendous effort and pushed me down. I lost to a good man :) It was a long match. I don't think either of us sustained any permanent injury though ;)

Kevin and Evelyn had to go to orchestra practice so Philip and I hung out waiting for RUF to begin. John gave a good, provoking sermon, but the first part I didn't quite understand what he was getting at. I'm sure there will be a conclusion to it later one. He was beginning on the book of Jonah this week and pointing out that no matter how we try to run, we cannot escape God's will for us.

I talked for a while to Asher, Spencer, and Bob, respectively, and then Philip and I said our good-byes and headed home. We were able to talk for a while on the way home as well, about the sermon, about the providence of God in my coming to OSU etc. I thought it was profitable. We got home past 11:00 however. The ride out of Tulsa was longer than I expected.

I'm going to have to close this post, I'm getting a little sleepy and may think about heading to bed soon. One quote for tonight:

Henry notes that Eleazar and Ithamar (the two remaining sons of Aaron) were to minster "in the sight of Aaron" and says "It is good for young people to act under the direction and inspection of those that are aged and experienced."

I heartily agree. It is a blessing to have fathers and older men and women who are able to guide one. Paul placed a high regard for the older women for example, who were to instruct the younger.