As I write this (December 2022), the city of Buffalo, N.Y., is digging out of the worst blizzard in its history. Situated on Lake Erie’s eastern end, the so-called lake-effect snow is part of life there, but this one was a doozy. With the death toll reaching more than 40 due to low temperatures and many being stranded on the highways and in their homes, it was nothing short of a disaster.

While not living there now, I did call that city my home during the “Blizzard of 1977,” which was the worst storm to hit that area up until that year. I was marooned at work for 24 hours and then able to go home, where we stayed off the roads for four days. Shoveling our snow became increasingly difficult as we struggled to lift each shovel full over the growing banks of the driveway. Another time, my family and I were stranded while driving through Buffalo, with snow so bad that even my four-wheel-drive SUV became stuck. Fortunately, we were not hurt and found shelter in a nearby water-treatment facility until the next day.

However, I remember my father telling stories of winter snowfall at the farm up in northern Minnesota near the Canadian border. The snowpack was so great that they had to shovel a tunnel out the farmhouse’s front door. Now, that’s bad. But in his telling of the story, it seemed that was just life back then.

My grandmother told me of cross-country skiing to the school house where she taught. Locals cut ice from the lakes for refrigeration purposes. Cars drove on the frozen lakes, with ice 6-12 inches thick.

Now I live in San Diego, California. We are done with the snow and cold weather. But, the high cost of living is our financial blizzard. We get a marine-layer fog that often comes ashore on the coast ten miles away, but the sun burns it off, usually by mid-day. Being in a desert region, water comes at a premium cost, threats of wildfire are always on the minds of insurance companies and homeowners, and rumors of earthquakes weave irrational fears of the coast of California falling off into the ocean.

In the Midwest, terrible tornados ravage the countryside; in the Rockies, forest fires devastate the vistas; the deep south knows extreme humidity; and the eastern seaboard is harried by hurricanes. And we are only talking about North America! Climate change seers predict that earth’s doomsday clock is closing in on midnight.

My grandparents had it bad and they learned to live with it. We too will learn to live with it. God is in control; He always has been and always will be. And the human story continues on. The story of my life, of all of our lives, will carry on. Never fear; there is more to come! Life may not be easy, and disaster may not always be diverted, but for those who are believers in God, the prospects are good. As the psalm writer says:

I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread. (Ps. 37:25)