Hot, Cold, Hot, Cold

The current weather seems to have more temperatures than a faucet, much like some of my recent dating experiences. This past weekend it was hot and heavy at 105 degrees in southcentral Texas. At the moment, the weather is a chillingly cool 80 degrees at 9pm.

When I lived in Santa Barbara it reached 124 (or 126?) degrees one year — we beat Death Valley’s record temperature that year by a degree or two. The black top at school was melting. You couldn’t stand on it for very long because your shoes would melt, too. It was the one day we kids got to wear shorts to school.

Hmm, closing the school might have been a good idea, ya think? School Official: Nah, let ’em cook their little brains out on the blacktop on the hottest day of the last 100 years. This may explain a lot about me.

I digress.

With the current heat wave sweeping over parts of the world, I thought some of you would enjoy seeing some snow. The snow comes with a tiny church. (Quite a segue, eh?)

Faith comes in all sizes.

Wayside Chapel in Luverne, MN, another World’s Smallest Church

This is from my trip a couple months ago to the frozen tundra that was South Dakota after the worst storm in twenty years. After completing my mission, I had a little free time to explore. It was during this trip I saw the Statue of David in Sioux Falls. After that, I headed to the northeast corner of Iowa. I didn’t see much, other than empty cornfields waiting for the ground to thaw.

The itty bitty car is for scale.

Lucky for me, nearby was the tiny Blue Mound Wayside Chapel in Luverne, Minnesota. This one is even smaller than the smallest church, in Warrenton, Texas, and the small church in Ingram, Texas.

The interior of the tiny church. There are four pews that can hold one or two people. (The shot isn’t the best, but I was as far back as possible while still being inside.)

It’s an adorable little church, with a peaceful energy about it. It appeared to have a fresh coat of paint, and was well maintained inside and out. Services are held weekly. There is a guest book on the podium, welcoming comments. People from all over the continent visited the little church and signed the guest book. So did I, too.

You, too, can have a little faith in the middle of nowhere. The tiny church is on the west side of US Hwy 75, a couple miles north of Luverne, Minnesota. If you drive too fast you’ll miss it and have to turn around. Not that that happened to me.