So, we keep getting snow, snow, and more snow.  And the snow just keeps building up.  Most years we get snow, and then it melts.  This year has had  ridiculously high amounts of snowfall and ridiculously low temps.

Josh has had NINE snow days already!  It's been incredibly disrupting to reschedule so many things in his work life and our personal lives.

Anybody who knows me knows I do not like this kind of weather.  But, stay with me; I promise this is more than just another rambling rant against winter.

Last weekend we were out of town.  Josh had a work event all day Saturday.  I tend to go a bit too crazy when my weekend is too similar to my weekday (IE, just hanging out at home with a two year old).  So I planned to hang at my folks a couple towns over.  When Josh returned to us, the weather was lousy, and he didn't want to have to do anymore driving, so we stayed there.  We ended up going to the nearby church that I grew up in and we married in (fun trip down memory lane!) and then hanging around for the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile it kept snowing.

When we finally returned home 50-some hours later, we could barely make it into our driveway.  Then when we made it over the large mound of snow that had been plowed off the street onto the end of our drive, we got stuck in the driveway.  I lamented about it on facebook including the cherry on top of our return home - discovering that our furnace had stopped working at some point while we gone, brrrr!

The next day Josh dug himself out in order to get to work.  But I knew Catherine and I weren't going anywhere.

Later that afternoon after I put Catherine down for her nap and got comfy in a cozy chair in the front room, I soon saw a truck with a plow attacking the huge snow bank at the end of our driveway.  Before long it ran the entire length of our driveway multiple times.

I was shocked and delighted and slightly confused.  And grateful and humbled and blessed.

Our new friend from church who plows the church parking lot apparently decided to just show up and plow our driveway too.

No explanation.
No charge.
No expectations.
No warning.
No strings attached.

He just showed up. 

He knew what we needed and just showed up.

He just showed up and blessed us.

Blessed us with his resources and his talents. And then went on his way.

There was no calling ahead and offering help.  There was no "Let me know if you need anything."

He just showed up.

I never would have asked for his help.  But boy was I grateful when he offered it so selflessly.

A couple years ago a friend needed us.  He wasn't going to ask for our help or anyone else's.  But it was clear to me that he needed someone to show up and be with him.  We went.  No strings attached.  We just showed up.  He talked.  We listened.  We were there for him.  After an hour or so we prayed with him and left.  It was the right thing to do.

This poor guy Job in the Bible went through unbelievable loss in his life.  Lost his family, his possessions, almost everything.  And Job 2:11-13 tell us that when his three friends heard about his situation, they went to him.  They just showed up.  They didn't wait for an invitation.  They didn't offer a half-hearted "Let me know if you need anything."  They didn't even say anything to him.  They wept with him and sat with him.

They just showed up and let God guide them in anything else.

Think about that the next time you know someone who is hurting and needing something.

Don't wait for them to ask you for help.  Don't offer your help.

Just show up.