“In the belly of Jonas!” 
Last week, from January 22-24, 2016, a category 4 “crippling” Blizzard Jonas was predicted to strike northeastern U.S. with a force that could impact 33 million people and paralyze traffic from Boston to Washington D.C. 
This time, the weather prognosticators were spot on
(except the storm passed south of Boston, where my son Joel lives). 
Jonas was a blizzard of epic proportions,
and as some of our friends demonstrated, “Jonas was a whale of a storm!” 
At least 55 people were killed due to storm-related incidents and flooding,
and economic losses have been estimated at up to $3 billion. 
The storm broke many historic records and has been unofficially considered a “top 10” snowstorm, earning such nicknames as “Snowzilla” 
& “Snowmageddon” for its mountainous snowfalls (high of 42″ in West Virginia) and horrendous winds (85mph on Assateague Island, MD). 
On January 23 the storm was truly a show stopper in Manhattan
where my brother lives: Cars were buried, traffic banned,
and even all the Broadway shows were cancelled.
There were record-breaking snows at both JFK and LaGuardia Airports in NYC, 
and more than 13,000 flights were cancelled. 
In Washington D.C., where my little sister lives, 
snow at the BWI airport broke their historic record, which dated back to 1892! 
Jonas dumped 22.4″ on Philadelphia (my daughter-in-law Grace’s hometown), which equaled Philly’s average snowfall for an entire year! 
14 states reported more than a foot of snow, and 6 states had more than two feet. 
January 23 was also the day Alan and I flew from Grand Rapids to Hawaii.
Having heard the predictions, we were concerned, particularly when we learned that a plane slid off the runway at O’Hare the night before we were to fly there.
However, our flights were bought and paid for, 
as was Alan’s tuition for Mayo Clinic’s Annual Internal Medicine Update,
and the forecast was pretty fabulous if we could just get there, 
so we thought we’d take our chances and try to make it safely to Hawaii. 
Despite our anxieties about the weather in Chicago, 
we made it in and out of O’Hare Airport without a hitch, 
and by the time we got to Phoenix…our spirits were risin’… 🙂
by the time we flew over the Pacific, the sky was clearing…
and by the time we reached Hawaii, we knew it’d been okay to leave home to go. 
I believe that leaving this earth to go to heaven will be very similar. 
There will be many things to make us feel afraid that we might not make it
safely through the storms of life to reach that “happy, golden shore.” 
But, if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior,
then your tickets are already paid for, 
and a safe arrival to your destination is assured. 
You have a room reserved for you and people expecting your arrival! 
It will be worth it all. I sure hope you’ll come with us! 
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).
(Special thanks to my brother John, sister Liz, friends [especially Laura and her kids in their “whale”], NBC News and USA Today [for picture of Philly]. The rest are photographs I took last week on our trip to Hawaii.)
