Scenic Snow

Staying warm in my flannel p.j.s I am staring out the windows and taking in some breath-taking scenes of snow covered trees and storybook fenceposts. Amazingly enough I went playing on a frozen pond yesturday and have realized that I am glad to be in North America for a while. I am not the biggest fan of winter, but thankfully, this year has been fairly mild, so my January return to Canada was not as harsh as I imagined it would be.
Almost a week ago I arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to help my cousin. She is cutely pregnant, but there are some complications, so I have come to the rescue to help look after three young children, be a chauffeur, help with meals, clean occasionally, and be her sherriff. We have had a blast catching up though and I'm finding that the days are just flying by.
On Thursday we went to Bible study together, at her church, and we were studying John the Baptist and the beginning of Jesus' ministry in the book of Matthew. The further we dug into the Scriptures, the more my mind went back to East Africa. I thought a lot of Kalacha as we talked of John the Baptizer wearing camel hair clothing and eating locusts and honey. Camel hair is itchy and locusts are crunchy. :)
Then we moved on to the desert where Jesus was "led by the Spirit" to be tempted by Satan. The desert is super hot, dry, and barren. Rock abound, so it's no wonder Satan offered him rocks to change into bread. "If you are the Son of God" was trying to place doubt in Christ's mind... and isn't that just how Satan works... by starting with one small ounce of doubt and building upon that.
Since living in Uganda, I have learned that it is a good thing to be like Jesus after the third round of temptation. "Get away from me Satan!" Don't be afraid to see evil as evil. My friends in Soroti would often say "the devil is a liar" if I stubbed my toe, misplaced my Bible, fell off my bike, etc. Now, sometimes I know things are my fault, but Satan puts things in our path to make us stumble, even momentarily. If I can't find my Bible, I can't meet with God. If I fall off my bike, my joyful spirit my have a tendency to fall as well.
My desire is to stand up tall, seek God only, and continue thanking HIM alone that the past three weeks home on this side of the ocean have been truly peaceful.