Oh the irony!
Just after writing Wednesday’s blog post about my hometown of Buffalo, New York, being so awesome at snow removal, we got hit with a snow storm that crippled traffic and resulted in a bunch of drivers being stranded on highways.
This treacherous Lake Erie-fed storm started on Wednesday and continued strong through Thursday, burying parts of Buffalo and some of our suburbs under two to three feet of snow! Dozens of schools canceled classes Thursday and again on today. It’s been a crazy couple of days.
The impact of the storm has gotten the attention of national news and is being covered on CNN and other network stations. Interestingly, this isn’t even the worst storm to hit our city. Back in late December of 2001, more than 76 inches of snow landed in Buffalo with 35.4 inches in just 24 hours. It was insane. Folks couldn’t get home for days.
Despite my celebration of Buffalo’s efficiency with snow removal, their less-than-stellar job this time around got some pretty harsh reviews from the city paper. Here’s a quote from the Buffalo News about the snow: “It is not unusual in December, this being Buffalo and not Miami. Yet judging by the lame performance of the Thruway Authority, you would think this was as rare as a South Beach blizzard.”
Ouch.
Many were surprised that this relatively mild storm (compared to previous much worse ones) managed to shut down the highways, but hey, I guess you can’t win them all.
Thankfully, the worst is over and there’s a lesson to be learned here. No matter how prepared we feel we are, storms create a certain level of chaos in our lives. We would love to skip over hurdles, avoid setbacks, and take the storm head-on with no visible signs of struggle, but life doesn’t work that way.
Like it or not, storms are hard. They’re messy. And they often invade our lives at the worst possible moments. Even the most experienced among us are greatly challenged by them. But, over time, through both failures and successes, we learn to improve.
The point I made in my blog post the other day still applies here. Trouble is our teacher. We learn from the storm. We grow through our challenges and are empowered to do better going forward.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, I know we all must endure hardships and setbacks from time to time. Please teach me to take it all in stride and apply the lessons learned from my struggle to help me grow stronger and more equipped to handle life’s ups and downs. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
