My weekday routine gets me up around 5:30 AM for an early bike ride. A quick glance at the thermometer outside the kitchen window this morning affirmed it was only 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Hmmmm, a bit colder than I expected! (That pic is a bike-ride sunrise I saw earlier this fall. Cool huh.)

I'm generally hesitant to get on the bike below 20 degrees--it's a matter of keeping my fingers warm!! But just yesterday I'd purchased a new pair of winter (actually ski) gloves planning to use them for riding. A ride in this weather would tell the tale. So, in part for the sake of discovery and in part just because "it's what I do," I rode east along Clear Creek into central Arvada (CO, from Golden) to meet a good friend for coffee--a super idea. As it turned out my fingers were pretty cozy inside those glove's Thinsulate(d) finger tubes; not a disappointment.

Coming down a tall hill separating the Clear Creek and Ralston Creek Valleys, I avoid a busy intersection to meander through feeder streets of a large apartment complex. Today they were curiously clogged with tenants' cars set in crazy configurations--many double and triple parked right on the street. "What's this about; were the drivers all drunk last night?"

Woops! There's yellow caution tape stretched across the street! Beyond that point there wasn't a car on in sight--anywhere! I guessed the street had been treated with a new topcoat, now dry, so I stopped, dismounted, and carefully ducked myself and pulled my bike under the tape, remounted, and coasted the final two blocks before ducking, again, and crossing Kipling to Starbucks.

The experience was an interesting reminder. Stopping to duck under the tape was uncomfortably inconvenient--especially given the speed I generate coming down the hill! Yes, I was talking to myself. But life is like that. Interruptions, discomfort, departures from our " plan," curious surprises that make no sense,...all part of a day's mosaic. So today's reminder is probably something I've said to my boys a time or two: "Don't get your underwear in a wad!" God is in charge--whether it's construction tape across the street or precious Princesses (click here) laying in a coma in the hospital. Life has meaning because GOD IS. Because of what He's done historically through Jesus Christ we know he loves us. John 3:16. Trust him; praise him! "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart...(Ps. 19:14)" do exactly that today and every day.