The Impending Storm – Part 1/3
A winter storm was predicted to for the Northeast Kansas area, dumping up to an inch of ice and then up to 18 inches of snow. But before I get into that, I want to tell you about an ice storm we had here over 20 years ago.
We had just moved here from Wisconsin so we were used to dealing with snow (where we lived near Madison got around 52 inches of snow each year). What we were not used to was the impact of ice.
I got up that morning 20 some years ago intending to go to work but later than I usually did. Shortly after day break, I decided to walk down the 100 or so feet of our driveway to get the paper (ah, the days of getting a daily paper to enjoy - I miss them). Because our driveway was icy, I walked through our yard hoping the grass underneath would give me some traction. I got the paper and was coming back when I fell in the ditch. Because of the ice, I couldn’t get up. I was stuck.
I eventually crawled (on my hands and knees) out of the ditch and made it back into the house where my wife had been blissfully unaware of my dilemma. It wasn’t too much later that the ice started breaking power lines in the area and we lost power. We had a gas fireplace and, for that day, we gathered around the fireplace all day. That night the temperature in the house dropped into the 50s. The next day, we checked into a hotel (we couldn’t get the gas logs to light). The 3rd day, I went to Sam’s and bought a generator. They sold out of that shipment in a couple hours after I got it, so I was fortunate.
I was also blessed that the CEOs administrative assistant had two electrician sons and I was able to get it hooked into the house’s grid. About this time, the power was restored after being out for 3 or 4 days.
Back to this impending storm we were to have. People started worrying about the weather to a large degree. All kinds of churches decided to cancel services on Sunday and several schools decided to call a snow day on Monday. On social media, I started seeing posts from people looking for snow plowing services and complaining that grocery stores were packed (I’m sure by now there isn’t a loaf of bread, gallon of milk or a roll of toilet paper left in this town). This afternoon, I just left my house to go to the end of the driveway to retrieve my trash bin and I can feel a little bit of freezing rain barely starting.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” - Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
Right now, I don’t know if when I get up tomorrow morning (Sunday), I’ll wake up to being able to go to church or not. I’m not worried. I hope to be able to go because I get fed and rejuvenated to be a light in the secular world. But if I don’t, I know that I can watch the service on Rumble and even if I can’t do that, I’ll find another way to get fed (at least to a degree).
Now I’m looking forward to being able to write about what, if anything, the storm actually brings by tomorrow morning.
