Greetings in the Name of the Lord, 

When I lived in Louisiana, I experienced I think three tropical storms and one category 1 hurricane. I also heard countless stories about Hurricane Katrina as well as many other big storms. Folks from Louisiana have a rhythm around storms. They expect the power to go, they expect to be inside for a day or two, and they expect to clean up afterwards.  The rhythm of it all helps them deal with the anxiety that comes along with the unknown of storms.

When I lived in Washington DC, I found out that the Rochester area has its own rhythm around storms as well, just the blizzardy kind, not the tropical kind. I remember when a big storm hit DC and I was frustrated that things were shut down for as long as they were (almost a whole week).  Rationally I understood they did not have the same kind of infrastructure for handling big snow storms, but from my perspective the roads were clear enough and it was time to get back to work. I found that internal drive interesting, because what I think I was observing was my Rochesterian attitude of cleaning up quickly, and getting back to work so we can fully enjoy the summer.  Maybe it came from the fact that while in school, fewer snow days meant getting out of school earlier.

I was out of town when a fairly powerful storm hit Victor last week. I have to say I was impressed by how well everyone came together to figure out what was going to happen around worship and address the damage to the steeple. By the time I got into the office on Monday morning, things were pretty well cleaned up (with the exception of some light poles outside the village hall, which are getting repaired outside my office as I type this). Obviously with the sort of fast storm (there has been no confirmation of a tornado, and appears there was not one, but still, it was a powerful and fast storm) we had on Saturday, there is no way to prepare the way folks did in Louisiana, where a tropical storm usually takes up at least a few days, but there is still a rhythm, even in this.

Whether it's a weather event, or some sort of tragedy in the community or within a family, there is a rhythm, We come together, we assess the problem, we mourn what might have been lost, and then we get to work repairing. In the midst of the repairing, things often slow down enough that we get a chance to reflect, to reflect on the things that matter most.  Luckily the damage from this storm was fairly minor, but it does not mean we can not take the time to reflect, to be together, to look around to assess, to take time to reflect on what matters most.

In Peace, 

Mike