Dealing with another Snowy Sunday

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.  -Matthew 18:20 (KJV) 

Once again the weather did not cooperate yesterday and our church services were hindered by all the snow and icy road conditions.  This makes the third Sunday in December that decisions had to be made about whether to cancel services or try to proceed.  I have come to think of this as a sort of plan A and plan B.  Plan A is to have just the one service at 11:00 AM, and plan B is to cancel everything for the day.  Again we held with the plan A strategy and this worked well.  Yesterday morning around twenty people braved the icy roads and frigid temperatures to come to church for morning worship.  If someone tells me they are going to stay in and not risk driving in the snow I understand completely and I believe the Lord does as well.  

As we began the worship time yesterday and I looked out at the people who had gathered, I recalled what the Lord Jesus said about when there are two or three gathered in His name He is in the midst of them.  Indeed, we experienced the presence of the Lord and worshiped Him with glad and grateful hearts.  The Word of God was opened, the gospel was proclaimed, and the people were challenged and strengthened.  We dismissed a little early in case the road conditions worsened and to my knowledge everyone made it home safely.  Days like this make me also think about how grateful we can be to the city workers who are out on the roads all night plowing away the snow and spreading salt to make traveling safer.  

I am certain that countless churches all up and down the east coast had to make similar decisions about whether to try and have worship yesterday.  Some were simply unable to due to the heavy snow and icy roads.  We were among the fortunate ones who were still able to hold services for those able to get to church.  If you had to stay home yesterday because of bad weather, remember that God knows your heart and understands your earnest desire to be in His house to worship.   

In all circumstances let us be thankful and look to Jesus our Lord and Savior.  We have countless blessings to consider and showers of blessing on the way. 

Rejoice in the Lord.  Again I say it; rejoice!