There is a wedding planned at our church today. The bride is from here, the groom from Manitoba. It was going to take a lot of planning to find seating for the 450 guests that are expected in a church that seats a maximum of 200. The overflow would have to be seated in the fellowship hall and then it would take a finely tuned logistical manoeuvre to rearrange everything in order to feed all those guests.

Then a blizzard blew in. An Alberta Clipper they call it, a fast moving storm that comes from the mountains of northern Alberta and tracks southeast through Saskatchewan, making for treacherous driving conditions.

At three in the afternoon the lights went out; the storm had taken down a power line somewhere. It took the utility crews 6 ½ hours to find and fix the problem. Meanwhile, ladies all over the congregation faced cold kitchen stoves while trying to prepare food for the family supper last evening, and for the dinner today. Young people were trying to play volleyball in a shop that was unlit and unheated. Song practice was planned to be held in a church that was similarly unlit and unheated.

Generators large and small were brought to where they were most needed and things got done despite the delays and confusion. We trust the young couple will get hitched today without any further hiccups in the process. They are going to have quite the stories to tell their grandchildren in years to come.