Snow Day...Church Canceled...Not Your Average Sunday

The text message hit just after 9am. Had this happened two weeks ago, we'd have been sitting in the chapel at our usual spot on the back row. But, since we have changed church starting times with the changing of the new year, all of us at our home were sleeping in.

Turns out we could have slept in a lot longer.

Growing up in the Rocky Mountains we've seen some extreme winters. One thing we haven't seen a lot is freezing rain. Maybe it happened growing up--I just don't remember. Thinking back, I remember that when it snowed, the snowplows weren't as efficient as they seem to be today and everyone drove slower when it snowed. At least, that's the way I remember it. If I could travel back in time, I'm sure I'd see snowplow operators doing excellent jobs and people being just as insane behind the wheel as they are now.

Canceling church--that's something that never happened.

Wait, I take that back. A few years ago we were hit with a monster wind storm. Hurricane-strength winds ripped through out neighborhood so instead of going to church, we were asked to don our bluejeans, grab our working gloves and chainsaws and do a little service. Today was different; we weren't asked to do anything but spread the word (I suppose when we go to church we're asked to spread the good word, but today, it was just the word...). I'm sure if people needed us to engage in physical labor, we'd come out in force with snow boots, gloves, and show shovels.

We stayed home and celebrated my wife's, Elvis's, and David Bowie's birthdays (actually, just my wife's, officially...). I wonder if this canceling church thing is something we'll get more of in the future. Time will tell.

No Church...Just Service

No Church...Just Service

I got the call around 10 a.m. this morning...church was canceled, and not only for our congregation, but for all congregations for three or four communities. It appears another series of storms is expected for tonight and because of that, we had to get all the fallen trees (that were on the roads waiting to be picked up...) gone and gone today.

We met at 10:30 a.m. at the bishops house. He stood in his yard and organized the morning, the morning that turned into the afternoon. These pictures show what I saw today.

 

Two of my sons accompanied me on our quest to help. Like me they had put in several hours yesterday helping out and (like me...) they were tired. I told them that it would be fun and it turned out to be.

 

Before we headed out, my wife wanted to help out as well. She came up with the idea of baking cookies for the volunteers. I told her to "bake like the wind!" And she did...so delicious were those cookies.

 

The snow came and went; volunteers came and went; the trucks pulling trailers came and went; the trees and logs just went. I thought it would be a great idea to just drive all the wood to the Great Salt Lake from Davis County and have a huge bonfire. That would be cool!

 

Eventually the streets were cleaned of the debris and we came home. There's still a batch of cookies that were not delivered. I'm sure they'll find good homes soon... I've written about the storm a lot this weekend--it's dominated our lives, and the lives of so many. I've written about it so it can be remembered and for the sake of friends and family who live elsewhere. I told my sons today when we headed out this morning that when I was their age, they canceled church and everyone was sent to fill sandbags for the flooding in 1983. I hope they always remember this cold December Sunday when they canceled church so we could return to the neighborhood and help each other.