A Lot To Learn From 2ft+ Of Snow

It is safe to say that Baltimore is overwhelmed by the recent snowfall and with another chance of 5+ inches forget about it. I know other places in the country might be laughing at us, but listen we just tripled our seasonal average of snowfall (20 inches to 60 inches) and we don't have the resources other areas have and I don't care what you drive, driving through 2 feet of unplowed snow is ridiculous.
And all this ridiculousness makes me nervous about Uprising this Thursday because of the snow that's supposed to come Tues/Wed. I just don't like the idea of canceling programs. I love what I do, I love coming to work, I love being with the students and I think this snow storm has helped this feeling emerge. Don't get me wrong, I loved being at home with my wife, but today she is working so if it was between being at home alone or working with students, I'll pick the latter. There's a lot to learn from 2ft-3ft of snow and this is just what happens to be on my heart.

Snow 1 Church 0

The snow was too much...well the snow with the Super Bowl was too much. Having church opened was just not going to happen. I thought to myself, "Why would God do this?"...maybe He's a football fan, after all this is the first time the Saints are in the Super Bowl...maybe we have to slow things down...but I found myself working on more stuff then I would in a usual weekend. So why did Baltimore get about 3 feet of snow? I don't know but what it did give me the opportunity to do was meet my neighbors. Now, don't get me wrong I know the people who live to the left and right but across the street, down the street and all around was a little bit of a mystery. So this morning, after shoveling what was left in my driveway, I went around and helped the neighbors. Learned some good stuff, struck up some awkward conversations (i.e. you like stuff?) and made some good connections. I don't know about other places in the world, but when a storm hits Baltimore it seems like communities come together, hang out and enjoy what they can. So again, "Why did God send a 3 foot blizzard to Baltimore?" Not sure, but it did give me the opportunity to make connections and maybe bring a connection to others between them and Christ.

Slow Snow

We are about 24 hours from a huge snow storm that seems to be changing a lot of plans for me., which at first was frustrating but now I'm learning to embrace it. It'll give me a chance to slow things down that I've been rushing through, so that should be good. Probably the one thing that I need to slow down and analyze is the efficiency of our ministry.

• Are new ministers coming in with a lot of momentum?
• Are seasoned ministers burning out or cruising through?
• Is there still momentum in the student programs?
• Are our resources falling apart?
• Are we just trying to get to the end or conquering another hill?

This Lenten season we are going into has always been a season that's been emotionally exhausting on a personal level and this year will be no different, but I hate the idea of just trudging through it to get to June, I want to not only pound through it but come out stronger than before. In order to answer the questions I listed above I need to answer and address the questions below:

• Where are my expectations?
• Are people/programs meeting them?
• Are my expectations too high or too low?

It's this whole fine tuning, balancing things out so that we can keep building momentum strategy that needs to be put together. And how that happens I don't know, all I know is that God needs to be a part of it and that I'm blessed because my ministry team has brought me to the position of figuring this out. So let it snow so that I can slow things down.