I have noticed something over the last several years. Monday mornings I get started shaving, splashing the hot water on my face. My brain tells me that my whiskers seem much shorter than they usually are on any other morning.
Now, I don’t know how many guys notice this, if they would. But it seems to me there’s only one real explanation for this: God’s day of rest.
You see, if you remember the account of the creation in Genesis, God rested after everything was done, and He called it the 7th day. He later commanded His people to rest on the 7th day, because He rested after His work of creation.
Whether or not God created it all in a literal or figurative seven days, He commanded we observe a literal seventh day for rest. Now, of course, as a Christian, I believe God changed that day of rest to the 1st day of the week, to also commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. So if we are obedient, we will honor God on His day of rest, or the Lord's Day, whichever way you want to say it.
So, do we (in general, everyone on earth, or just believers?) actually rest on this day of rest? I mean, is there a seven-day cycle we all are somehow in tune to in some basic physical sense? Do many of our bodily systems actually relax their functioning during that day? Considering my whiskers on Monday morning, I would think this is so.
Does anyone else think this, as well? Or do you think this is totally bogus, or just psychological?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Creaking Ice
Last Sunday we took a short drive out to Lake Maria State Park just outside of Monticello, Minnesota (because that’s near our home!). By the way, it’s pronounced mar-eye-ah, like the song from Paint Your Wagon. Lake Maria is not very big; I would say about 600 yards across.
It has been a mild and drought-like winter thus far. Little snow (less than 9 inches) and above freezing daytime temperatures for a several weeks. Though it is still getting cold enough at night to form ice over lake surfaces.
We drove down to the lakeside to be out in the sun for a while. With barely any wind, it was still warm enough for me to walk around without a cap, and for some reason I had forgotten my gloves as well.
As we walked a path to the lake, we noticed some strange sounds. At first I thought someone must have had some music on loudly enough to carry across the lake from the other side. It was bassy, not like drum thumps. But then again, there was really no echo.
It was nearly 40 degrees by then. There was a fishing dock, and we walked out on it. The ice seemed just thick enough to walk on. At the shore it seemed to be at least four, maybe five inches thick. Alex and I walked out onto the ice nearby the dock. The ice was not transparent, so I couldn't tell how thick it may have been there.
That’s when we heard cracking! It was slight, but enough for all of us to hear it. And it didn’t last long. I also noticed the visible crack through the ice from one corner of the dock radiating out toward the shore to the south. Now I have been on lake ice during March while ice fishing, and then there can be lots of water on the surface as the temps get warm enough. But you know the ice has been almost a foot thick still, and there is no danger. This ice at that time was a different story. No knowing when or where it might not be thick enough.
Alex and I made our way back to the shore and returned to Connie on the dock. All through this time we were still hearing that low thumping sound. It actually was coming from under the ice! We walked further along the lake to the boat access area. There we could see a long crack about 8 feet from the shoreline. It stretched parallel with the shore for a long distance. The crack was about an inch wide, with more ice having filled the space between; a good sign that it separated once and then refroze. I noticed more cracks similar in other places.
At this place the low sound was more noticeable, too. Somehow, there was some kind of wave action going on under the ice. The ice was thin enough to allow the sound to come through. Also, I think the ice was thin enough to flex under the movement of whatever wave action was going on. Like the skin that forms over a pot of cooling soup, it would move slightly from the movement of the water underneath. That would explain the cracking all over the lake as well.
I was just left with a wondering whether this was common on other lakes this year, or if there was some unique aspect to this one.
It has been a mild and drought-like winter thus far. Little snow (less than 9 inches) and above freezing daytime temperatures for a several weeks. Though it is still getting cold enough at night to form ice over lake surfaces.
We drove down to the lakeside to be out in the sun for a while. With barely any wind, it was still warm enough for me to walk around without a cap, and for some reason I had forgotten my gloves as well.
As we walked a path to the lake, we noticed some strange sounds. At first I thought someone must have had some music on loudly enough to carry across the lake from the other side. It was bassy, not like drum thumps. But then again, there was really no echo.
It was nearly 40 degrees by then. There was a fishing dock, and we walked out on it. The ice seemed just thick enough to walk on. At the shore it seemed to be at least four, maybe five inches thick. Alex and I walked out onto the ice nearby the dock. The ice was not transparent, so I couldn't tell how thick it may have been there.
That’s when we heard cracking! It was slight, but enough for all of us to hear it. And it didn’t last long. I also noticed the visible crack through the ice from one corner of the dock radiating out toward the shore to the south. Now I have been on lake ice during March while ice fishing, and then there can be lots of water on the surface as the temps get warm enough. But you know the ice has been almost a foot thick still, and there is no danger. This ice at that time was a different story. No knowing when or where it might not be thick enough.
Alex and I made our way back to the shore and returned to Connie on the dock. All through this time we were still hearing that low thumping sound. It actually was coming from under the ice! We walked further along the lake to the boat access area. There we could see a long crack about 8 feet from the shoreline. It stretched parallel with the shore for a long distance. The crack was about an inch wide, with more ice having filled the space between; a good sign that it separated once and then refroze. I noticed more cracks similar in other places.
At this place the low sound was more noticeable, too. Somehow, there was some kind of wave action going on under the ice. The ice was thin enough to allow the sound to come through. Also, I think the ice was thin enough to flex under the movement of whatever wave action was going on. Like the skin that forms over a pot of cooling soup, it would move slightly from the movement of the water underneath. That would explain the cracking all over the lake as well.
I was just left with a wondering whether this was common on other lakes this year, or if there was some unique aspect to this one.
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