Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow...

Another snowy Sunday and once again, Grace held regular services; many other churches in the area cancelled parts or all of their Sunday programs due to the storm system. I explained our perspective on cancelling Sunday services in an entry back in December. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so.

Here are the stats from Sunday, February 12:

• 6 counties were under advisories, watches, or severe weather warnings.

• WGAL's forecast for the morning, "Sunday: Heavy snow this morning east of Lancaster, ending from west to east. Total storm accumlations from 3"-6" north of I-81, 6"-12" south of I-81 with locally heavy amounts in excess of 15"." I would guess there was around 10" at our house.

Wind: North at 6 MPH
Humidity: 85% Dewpoint: 23°F
Barometer: 29.65 inches and steady
Wind Chill: 20°F
Route 501 was cleared, but still snow covered.

• Grace Church auditorium attendance (not including attendance at children's programs, Sunday School or Adult Bible Fellowships), this is just the number of people in the Auditorium for worship services: 400

Here's a general review of how we responded to this latest storm system.

• Friday - with reports of a coming storm system, our plower dropped off his equipment at the church Friday afternoon. Though I can't find a specific forecast on the internet, when our plower's backhoe is dropped off at the church, I know somethings coming.

The following times are unconfirmed, but should be pretty close...

• Sunday (3 am) - I would guess our plower and his son(s) started plowing the church parking lot around this time.
• Sunday (5:45 am) - Jay and Marlin started shoveling/snowblowing the sidewalks.
• Sunday (7 am) - I talked with Jay and confirmed that the building was ready to receive people. I then called Pastor Scott. He found 501 driveable and neither of us saw a reason to cancel services.
  

I appreciate being able to worship on days like yesterday. If it weren't for people like Jay, Marlin, and our plowers, we wouldn't be able to do that. I appreciate their getting up early and sometimes missing the services themselves, which allows us to worship together.

There was a part of me that was tempted to call WDAC and WJTL and ask them to announce that Grace Church was on a two-hour delay. Why do churches simply cancel instead of using delays like schools?