“Overcoming the Cold”

I don’t like being cold.

Due to the nature of my work, I spend a good bit of time at a desk: reading, studying, administrative stuff. This time of year, it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, my feet and hands are often cold. And I don’t like it. The only remedy, really, is to get up from the desk and go walk the halls of the church building for fifteen minutes or so. Yes, I know…that’s good for me, so I suppose the cold feet is a blessing in disguise.

Well disguised.

Cold used to be OK

We lived in Vermont for eight years, but left 21 years ago (is that possible??). As one might imagine, Vermont gets really cold in the winter. During our tenure, I don’t remember hating the cold, or even having a strong distaste for it. We loved our years in the Green Mountain State, even when the mountains turned white. After moving back to the Midwest, I often thought I’d like to retire in Vermont—even though it’ll never happen. Cost of living makes it impossible for us. And over the last few years, with my growing dislike of the cold, the notion of living out my days in the northeastern state is less attractive this aging guy.

Having said all of that, my bride and I spent a couple of days between Christmas and New Years in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We drove through a snowstorm to get there, and temperatures dropped after our arrival.

The parking lot where we were staying greeted us with a slushy two-three inches of fresh snow. Temperatures hovered around freezing at the time. By evening, the slush had turned to ice—walking anywhere was a precarious adventure.

And yet, despite my dislike of the cold, one of our objectives on this trip was to hike a few miles along the Lake Geneva Shorepath Trail—a 21-mile trail that follows the shoreline all around the lake. Slipping across the parking lot to the restaurant for dinner, though, left me wondering how far we would be able to go on the trail!

Help!!

Thankfully, a couple of things helped out.

Last year, we had done a winter hike in Matthiessen State Park near Utica, IL. That trail was very treacherous, but we noticed some people wearing attachments on their boots that prevented slipping on the ice. I discovered YakTrax!

YakTrax came to the rescue in Lake Geneva. I haven’t figured out quite how they work, but they do! Stretch these things on the bottom of your hiking boots, and you’re good to go.

It also helped that the sun came out the next morning. I don’t think it got above freezing, but the little bit of warmth melted away some of the ice.

So off we went. In the cold. That I don’t like.

But in this setting and on this activity, the cold really didn’t bother me…much. My hands were toasty, feet were warm, ears protected. The frost nipped my nose a bit, but all-in-all, the pursuit of a few miles toward a larger goal dislodged any dislike of the cold.

The scenery itself was pretty cool, too (no pun intended). We hiked four miles along the path (eight miles round trip), beginning at Riviera Beach and heading west on the north side of the lake. I believe the entire 21 miles cuts through private property. Some of the estates are quite stunning, including the Wrigley estate built by the Wrigley family (of chewing gum and Cubs baseball field fame).

There’s plenty to take in, but if I had one complaint, it would be the lack of places to just sit, take in the beauty, and reflect. I mentioned to Chris that if we owned one of these multi-million-dollar properties, I’d carve out a few feet on the lakefront and plop down a bench or two as a spot for guests to stop for a while.

Oh well.

I wrote about this in a post a few weeks ago, but in case you missed it, the goal is to hike 365 miles in 365 days. We began on November 1—and have a long way to go!

Having this goal before us, though, means we have to look for opportunities to hike and take advantage of them—regardless of how warm or cold.

Which is why we were walking along the Lake Geneva shoreline on a cold December afternoon, YakTrax on our boots, dressed in layers, enduring a bit of discomfort—and in the end not really minding it much.

Such is the power of a goal that you “own.”

“Owned Goals”

An “owned” goal involves the pursuit of something you really want to achieve, you understand why you want to achieve it, and you’re willing to endure momentous challenges along the way.

It’s that time of year again when “goals” factor large in our thinking. Many of us jot down some things we’d like to accomplish in the coming year, just like we did last year…and the year before that. How many of those goals are achieved?

It strikes me that good goals—those I’ll stick with through to completion—are “owned” goals. Obviously, there’s much, much more that can be said on the subject. Others are more qualified to speak to the subject than I.

My point is that a good goal, an “owned” goal, is one I’ll be persistent in pursuing regardless of the challenges or obstacles in the way.

And I think there’s a biblical case to be made for that.

Consider the apostle Paul.

He had a big, overarching “life goal” that he expressed in a couple different ways:

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

– Acts 20:24 (ESV)

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

– Philippians 3:12–14 (ESV)

And this goal allowed him to face certain opposition with resilience. He made the first statement in response to the threat of impending arrest and imprisonment for the practices vital to fulfilling the goal.

Notice in the second statement the terms implying hardship and difficulty: “press on…straining forward….”

Connected to the big life goal, Paul also owned some “being goals”, highlighted in Philippians 3:8-10:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death….

Did you pick up on the fact that accomplishing these “being goals” would inevitably involve some degree of suffering? Yet the suffering is accepted willingly for the sake of the goal!

As with most of our goals, Paul had some “doing goals,” too. Here are just a few:

• He wanted to return to cities where he preached the gospel before (Acts 15:36)
• He wanted to get into certain areas to preach, but was open to redirection and clarification (Acts 16:6-10)
• He wanted to go to Jerusalem, then on to Rome (Acts 19:21)
• He wanted to go to Rome, on the way to Spain (Romans 15: 24, 28)

So, with all the hype about New Year’s goals and “resolutions” and their seemingly inevitable failure, it might be easy to scrap the idea of setting goals altogether. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater! Instead, ask God to burn within you some “being” and “doing” goals that align with an overarching “life goal”—some goals you truly own.

Goals that will make you forget the cold!