The Hardy Scots

50F(10C) degrees
· People in southern England turn on the central heating
· People in Edinburgh plant out bedding plants

40F (4C)degrees
· Southerners shiver uncontrollably
· Glaswegians sunbathe on the beach at Largs

35F(2C} degrees
· Cars in the south of England refuse to start
· People in Falkirk drive with their windows down

20F(-6C) degrees
· Southerners wear overcoats, gloves and woolly hats
· Aberdonian men throw on a T-shirt and girls start wearing mini-skirts

15F(-9.4C) degrees
· Southerners begin to evacuate to the continent
· People from Dundee swim in the North Sea at Broughton Ferry

0F (-17 7C) degrees
· Life in the south grinds to a halt
· Inverness folk have the last BBQ before it gets cold

Minus 10F (-23 3C) degrees
· Life in the south ceases to exist
· People in Dunfermline throw on a light jacket

Minus 80F (-62.2C) degrees
· Polar bears wonder if it's worth carrying on
· Boy Scouts in Oban start wearing their long trousers

Minus 100F (-73 3C degrees)
· Santa Claus abandons North Pole
· People in Stirling put on their 'long Johns'

Minus 173F (-139C) degrees
· Alcohol freezes
· Glaswegians get upset because all the pubs are shut

Minus 297F (-182 7C) degrees
· Microbial life starts to disappear
· The cows in Dumfriesshire complain about farmers with cold hands

Minus 460F (-273 3C) degrees
· All atomic motion stops
· Shetlanders stamp their feet and blow on their hands

Minus 500F (-295.5C) degrees. 0 degrees Kelvin. Absolute Zero!
· Hell freezes over
· Scotland win the World Cup

Always one of my favourite lists.

I saved a man's life for £8.

Jay came to our Tuesday Kitchen some 6 months ago. He had been referred to us by Compass, the local community drugs agency, and he showed the classic symptoms of heroin addiction. He was living in one of the local woods under a tarpaulin for cover. The only tent at our local camping shop was a cheap one but I thought it would do, so we bought it for him and also gave him a few things such vests, hat and gloves. We also gave him one of our Army surplus sleeping bags which had cost us £8 when I bought them from a contact I had made in our local market place. These sleeping bags are brilliant - very warm and robust. We may have seen Jay twice since then, but that is often the way it is with these guys. They don't keep diaries.

So it was nice to see Jay turn up on Tuesday braving the last few weeks of sub zero temperatures. He was still living in the same tent (which he complained about! "Its only a single layer so the condensation makes you wet at the start of the day"). But he tucked into his meal, read my copy of The Officer (he was very impressed that we had risen to the rank of Captain so quickly) and he managed to warm up a little. He was articulate, funny and good company.

We gave him a better tent and some other stuff and then he told me "That sleeping bag you gave me - it's brilliant. It saved my life. I hope that you understand how grateful I am for everything - without that sleeping bag I would be dead!"

I am constantly grateful for our Tuesday Kitchen where we can meet guys like Jay. They show me why I am a follower of Jesus who asks us to serve mankind not only for the sake of those in need but, and I am more convinced than ever of this, for us to find out what it means to be human. It seems to me that Salvation is a process of becoming truly human which begins on earth and has its completion in eternity.

Perhaps that is two lives saved for the price of £8.