Before the storm, life was moving along rather normally. The campaign captured the attention of many, political commercials edged out most others, and gas prices continued to be high. Before the storm folk went about their routines and looked forward to the political season ending. Before the storm, grocery prices had been impacted by a major drought this summer. Youngsters looked forward to Halloween. The football season was in full swing. The World Series stirred interest.

That was all before. But there was more than that, for brewing down among those famous islands that draw tourists and offer retreat was a storm. A storm named Sandy. Within that storm stirred an omen of a greater storm. Weather forecasters were beginning to search for words to describe what they were seeing. It seemed

There are so many calls for our attention today that there is little to do but divide it among all the options. The storm in the northeast surely is at the top of the list. Our affection, concern, and support for those who have been separated from a comfortable home and hearth must be our first response. Those whose circumstances were grave before the devastation sped through neighborhoods and corridors of a giant city, will find life even tougher. Small businesses will suffer the shock of having to find some way to rise again from the heap of debris and the horror of such damage and loss. Folk who are on salaries will find their work possibly threatened. Businesses of all kinds will go through a period of trying to rise from the mud and the waste left behind.

Meanwhile, we who watch from afar, will find