Temporary Is … Temporary! … Hello dear readers. For all of our friends living in the “winter snow-hail-sleet, etc” that nature has thrown you, I hope you are doing OK. We’ve had friends and family with unbelievable feet of snow, hail bigger than baseballs, and a deep temperature that no one should be outside to inhale it! Friends from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada have sent me pictures, but the one thing that caught me was “Cyndy, it’s temporary, we’ll get through it.” Growing up in northern Wisconsin I get it; you can’t stop the winter storms but you always remember that it will end—well kind of! So, I am sharing a story from the folks’ way up in Leadville, Colorado—which is the highest incorporated city in the U.S. Al and I love going up there in the summer and it is amazing how much snow is still on those mountains! Here’s their story on “temporary” – enjoy and learn from it!

On November 25, 1995, in Leadville, Colorado, a cornerstone of ice was laid that would be the foundation of what would become the largest ice palace ever built in America. The town’s economy had been struggling, so the citizens staged a winter carnival with the palace as the centerpiece. When it was complete, the palace measured 450×320 feet. The towers were over 90 feet high and it held a 16,000-square-foot skating rink inside. The townspeople were ecstatic, celebrating their newfound hope as a surge of paying visitors came to Leadville. But, as happened every year, spring came, which melted away the palace and sent the visitors home. The people of Leadville knew the end was coming to their money-making carnival. Yet, they still hoped that this ‘temporary tourist trap’ would cure their financial ills for good. But it never did. They tried the next year, not many came, one more year and then they realized that those who came had their one-experience and that was enough.

In Matthew 6:19–21 [MSG] Jesus warns us: “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

I wanted to find out how often this happens. There were a LOT of statistics just in our county and most of them were pretty much the same. The outcome? Unfortunately, countless people do this exact same thing each and every day. Now that stopped me in my tracks—every day, really? Yes indeed. They put their hope in temporary things for happiness or security, and then are disappointed time and time again when “spring comes” and the things in which they had so much hope melt away and that melt was more than just snow and ice!

Al and I have had many moves, some in the same town but a change of a home, and then our ‘nomad problem’ pops up and “let’s go to Phoenix or…” you know what I mean. We can tell you that temporary is indeed just temporary! Some of us enjoy moving, others want to stay in one place but in the end, it’s all temporary. You may have been in your place for 50 years but think of the things that changed—it’s all temporary sooner or later.

In this time of Lent, the word ‘temporary’ gets me thinking of all the upheaval that Jesus went through. Loved by people—hated by people—loved but then killed on a cross. No doubt Jesus really knew what ‘temporary’ was. Think about this: every material thing in this world is temporary and will eventually be destroyed. But there is something that will endure forever and that is our precious Savior, or as one of my pastor friends says: “God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit—they endure so that’s where we want to put our faith in. Oops-signing off, I have to go to my chiropractor! Ah, that temporary—you just can’t get rid of it! AMEN.