Be prepared for drastic, last minute shifts

According to this story, retailers lost $1 billion from the recent blizzard. If those business owners had been checking the weather in the days leading up to the storm, many of them wouldn't have even suspected such epic snow totals were knocking at their doors. A couple of locations I had checked just a few days before the storm hit were only forecast to receive a dusting or so. By the time the storm ended, one of those locations was buried with nearly two feet.

Of course, with weather forecasting being an imperfect science, nobody can fault these business owners for being caught by surprise. The Old Testament sufferer Job, for example, might have sympathized with their plight. In Job 1:13-22, for example, Job, a righteous man in God's eyes was nevertheless allowed by that very same God to experience Satan's severe trials. It wasn't like God said to him, "Hey, Job, just to let you know, next week you'll be going through some stuff. It'll last a while, but once it's over I'll give you more blessings than you ever dreamed" (see Job 42:10). He, like those shop owners who endured the blizzard, only knew that much of what he held dear was taken from him.

I imagine over time we'll hear stories of anger from many of these shop owners. But I hope that we'll have some Jobs, people who in spite of it all accept God's sovereignty, don't assume God was wrong in allowing such a trial, and, most important, bless Him in the midst of it all. For those who do these things will in return be blessed far more (maybe in different ways than financially) than they ever had been.