Brad Hall: HALL THINGS CONSIDERED: How to be ready for an unexpected storm

Feb. 21—We've certainly experienced our fair share of winter weather this past week.

A week ago, freezing rain led to some hazardous road conditions. I was at the office pretty late on Friday night and received word that the interstate was blocked. So I took 25W to Corbin from London in order to get home.

Our parking lot was very slippery but thankfully the drive home wasn't too bad.

A few days later, the weather led to more road hazards.

There was freezing rain and snow in the forecast for Monday, but unexpectedly, traveling conditions got pretty bad the night before on Sunday.

We were at my mother-in-law's house to let Baby Jaxson visit with his grandma, but about an hour later we started receiving bad reports about I-75.

Rescue squads and other authorities warned everyone on Facebook to avoid the interstate if possible. Then eventually they closed part of the interstate down, setting up a blockade at Exit 29 to keep drivers away.

The light drizzle we had received was enough to wreak havoc on the roads as the temperatures dropped that night.

We knew that these reports were our cue to get back home as soon as we could. We started driving on Fifth Street Road near Corbin Primary, but as we started slipping around, we decided to go another way.

Thankfully, Cumberland Falls Road and downtown were relatively safe, and so we all got back home in one piece.

The next morning, roads remained hazardous. There was also snow and more freezing rain in the forecast for Monday afternoon and evening.

Our plans here at the newspaper were to get to the office extra early so that everyone could get out of the building before 3 p.m. However, we weren't able to get there early because of the conditions, and we assumed that working later was out of the question due to the weather heading our way.

It was then that we decided to keep everyone safe and postpone the newspaper for a day. We didn't know if Tuesday would be much better but we knew that Monday was out of the question.

We certainly apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused our readers, but we didn't want to risk anyone's health and we didn't want to potentially add any more stress on our hard-working snow crews and first responders.

However, this crazy week inspired us to test out some new procedures for the newspaper. On Friday, I plan to set up my work computer at home and see if I'll be able to lay out our Saturday e-edition without having to go to the office.

If everything goes well, that will be a helpful way to prepare for any future winter storms in the forecast. Instead of worrying about how we'll get to the office, I can plan ahead by taking my computer home. There will be less risk for everyone and we won't have to be in limbo while we wait for snow or ice.

While we shouldn't have reason to constantly be in worry about the days ahead, God does want us to be prepared for what could lie ahead.

We're trying to make arrangements here at the office so we don't have to wonder what will happen when something completely unexpected happens.

We need to make arrangements with the Lord so that we're always ready in case something unexpected happens.

On one hand, something tragic could unfortunately occur at any moment. Or on the other hand, Jesus could make his return at any moment to take us all home. Either way, both things could happen and completely catch us off guard.

Take the opportunity right now to give your heart to Christ. I hope and pray if you're reading this that nothing suddenly bad happens to you. But even if it does, you can have assurance knowing where you'll spend eternity. All you have to do is ask God to forgive you of your past and let him be the one true Lord in your life.

Matthew 24:44 says, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Even with severe weather being forecast for this past Monday, we were caught off guard by the road hazards the night before.

Don't let tragedy catch you off guard or the Lord's return catch you off guard by not getting saved and dedicating your life to Christ.