Paulette and I spent the first two years (fifty years ago) of our marriage in Madison, Wisconsin, while I was a student at the University of Wisconsin.  It was a wonderful town with lots of low-cost activities, and we greatly enjoyed our time there.  There was one negative.  The winters were cold.  Actually, they were frigid!

We lived in an old neighborhood on the east side of town.  The homes were very modest, but the people were great.  We once commented on how good the paperboy was.  Our neighbors agreed, but said that Pat Richter had been an even better one.  At the time Richter was the wide receiver for the Washington Redskins.  We lived in an upstairs apartment, and our landlords, the Hinrichs, lived right below us.  We had our own outside entrance around the back of the house.  When their children had grown up (many years before), they had converted the second story of their house to an apartment.  They were an elderly couple, who were very nice to us.

On one of the coldest January nights we woke up at about three in the morning and found ourselves drenched in sweat, so much so that the bedding was damp.  The apartment felt like a sauna!  When I checked the thermometer on the thermostat it was higher than it could record, over one hundred degrees.  The heat was provided by old fashioned radiators, and I almost burned my hand when I tried to touch one.  At that point it came to my mind that something was wrong with the boiler, and I thought, “I hope it doesn’t explode!”  We tried to call the Hinrichs and were troubled when they didn’t answer.  Ironically, we then took the traditional course of leaving the sauna and going out in the cold to try and wake the Hinrichs.  We knocked, and then pounded, on their door, and we were even more worried when we couldn’t wake them.  Before calling 911, we decided to call their son; he said he had a key and would be right over.

He arrived in just a few minutes and found the Hinrichs sleeping soundly, but fine.  Their part of the house, however, was chilly.  Here’s what had happened.  Mrs. Hinrichs noticed that it felt a little warm.  The radiators were the old-fashioned ones with valves, and she closed the valves on the radiators.  At bedtime, Mr. Hinrichs noticed that it felt a little cool and turned up the thermostat.  There were two thermostats controlling the boiler, one on our level and one on theirs.  If either called for more heat, the boiler provided more heat to BOTH floors.  In this case all the heat went to us, while the thermostat on their level kept calling for still more.  It was a vicious cycle.

Notice that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Hinrichs was at fault; each was taking a rational action.  The same can happen at a church.  People sometimes act with the best of intentions, but since they are acting independently, they are cross purposes with each other.  Unilateral actions can even hurt the feelings of others.  Communication and unity are an important part of the Christian community.

Please read Hebrews 10:24-25, which speaks to this, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim