As the Northeast faces Snomageddon (The potential of being the largest storm “ever”.)people are making changes and the storm has not arrived. Okay, I do understand wisdom and I do understand snow. I have been in New England for the most part nearly 60 years. I do not think it is “funny” to not get to work or to have trips disrupted or to have your kids home!!! But this storm or any other puts some things on the table.

I am going to list them in no particular order other than what I am thinking.

Where is your faith? “Without faith it is impossible to please God” scripture tells us. So what is our faith in? The news? The upcoming “crisis”? If you live in New England this ought to be a walk in the park. Who does not prepare for an outage or have food for a week? (Being prepared is NOT unbiblical.) According to Facebook and the media…no one. (I know that is not true, it is probably that those people are preparing for their neighbor’s crisis are not on Facebook!) And whatever happened to telling the storm to stop? Not even sending it away. Just STOP! (Works for Jesus, works for me.)

Drama… I addressed this a little but as unfun and as potentially dangerous any storm can be, let’s stop the drama. About this or anything else. Let us not let worry or anxiety get stirred up by our mental state of drama. Only yesterday, I was reading a blog and they said “worry is a down payment on a problem you might never have.” With over 82% of all we get “anxious” about never happening the depth of that statement is huge.

Bring it back! Maybe I am “old fashioned” in my thinking but as a child storms provided times with family and friends. Out came the skis, toboggans and shovels. Hot chocolate and cookies. The chance to visit with friends. Break out the board games. Wait for the plow. If you can not work maybe you can get to some of those “rainy day” projects or…wait for it…PRAY!

Focus. When a storm takes our focus off the greater problems of our world I get a little concerned. I know it is a storm. I know it affects lives, but in the global perspective it is but a drop of water in a great sea. Granted it is “our drop” but is just part of a larger picture. Let us not lose focus of things that require our prayer, our energy if you will.

Opportunity. If I learned one thing as a child it was there is opportunity in just about anything. Storms opened the doors for me to make money and make friends. In my current thinking of opportunity, I think of my elderly or handicapped neighbors. Reaching out before the storm to let them know you will check in can remove their anxiety. Their worries. I often brush off others cars while I am doing mine. But hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies go a long way. (You do have my address, don’t you?)

Whether it snows a lot or a little, we as believers have the greatest calling in the world. To bring peace. To serve others. To make the world a little better.

As the news talks about the potential of a storm, I am talking about the potential of a believer. The power to change things. To create things. Potentially the storm can come or not. Potentially a believer can arise and shine or…not. The choice…is ours.