How would God respond to making a mistake? Would planets collide or mountains slide into the sea? Or would the ledger of all life simply remain out kilter until a series of small events forced that ledger back into balance again? It's probably the l...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
August 12, 3:26AM
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Years ago, when my family drove to Missouri to visit relatives, we usually went across Pennsylvania on the Turnpike. It's a dreary road. It fact, it may be the dreariest road in America. But it's also the fastest way to drive across Pennsylvania.
After the game in Pittsburgh, I thought it would be a good idea to cover as much distance as possible – especially since I'll be seeing two games in two cities today. First in Philadelphia and then in New York. But the real reason, I drove through the night is so I wouldn't have to see the Pennsylvania Turnpike during the daylight. Of all the states I've visited, only Delaware has more dead animals on the side of the road than Pennsylvania. And in Delaware, they're mostly chickens. Since those chickens are destined for someone's dinner plate, it never upset me quite as much as seeing all the deer, raccoons, squirrels, dogs, cats, birds, porcupines, possums, and seemingly every other animal under God's sky on the side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. They're all here. And I didn't want to see any of them, so I drove through the night with my headlights on low. That way, most of what was on the side of the road just looked like shadows.
I finally stopped near Valley Forge. The exit ramp was crammed with the signs pointing me toward George Washington's winter headquarters. Some of the signs even had pictures of shivering and starving soldiers who were huddled over campfires. It's too bad that I wasn't there to help them that winter because I could have told them about all the dead animals on the Turnpike. No one would have starved if I was there.
⌂⌂⌂
After a couple of hours of sleep, the heat woke me up. It's barely 6AM and it's obvious that the world is going to cook today. The first clue to what's about to happen comes from the sounds. The morning begins with a distant hum instead of a faraway light. That hum is the droning of millions and millions of dragonflies, fireflies, and every other type of creature with wings. On days like this, even the butterflies are annoyed by the heat. They flap their wings just to get a breeze and their sound can be heard for miles.
Across the highway, one of those bank signs is alternating flashes of time and temperature.
88 degrees.
6:26.
88 degrees.
6:26.
89 degrees.
6:26.
The radio says it will reach 102 today. On a day like this, there's not much else to talk about except the heat.
⌂⌂⌂
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
