Northern Lights

I had such a nice time of fellowship with the people of Big Canoe Lutheran Church and Highland Lutheran Church last night in rural Decorah. They were so interested in our ministry in Nigeria and eager to learn more.

After we finished sharing, the boys and I were planning to head north a couple of hours, and then get a hotel room before continuing on to my parents' home the next day. But I realized that I was feeling pretty alert, so we decided to drive through the night. Tobi was terribly excited about the whole prospect. I can't say that I was that enthusiastic, but I was looking forward to getting home earlier than planned.

Tobi was amazed and delighted to learn that McDonalds is open overnight. The boys had their double cheeseburgers at 11:30 p.m. It was very enjoyable to drive through St. Paul on the deserted interstate.

We would never travel between cities at night in Nigeria. That's just a general rule of thumb for most of the Nigerian population. My only two concerns last night were deer and drowsiness. I kept my eyes peeled for those glistening marble-like eyes and then ingested more caffeine than I've ever had in one sitting: 6 cups of coffee, 1 cherry pepsi and 1 vanilla coke.

I did see two deer (thankfully not at very close range), and I never did get terribly drowsy. I've heard enough horror stories of people falling asleep at the wheel. I was prepared to get a hotel room if I was too tired to continue.

As we drove north and also as we got deeper into the night, the temperature dropped from about 68 in Decorah to 48 in Angora. There was quite a bit of wispy fog on the road as I got further north. Eventually I realized that what looked like fog above the treetops was actually the Northern Lights. They were a beautiful pale dancing green. When I reached my parents' home about 4 a.m., I was able to look out their north-facing picture windows across the open praire and enjoy the beauty and mystery of the Northern Lights.