Unprepared
I debated with myself for a bit before deciding on this topic. It's really a two-part post, so bear with me.
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| April 27, 2011 Tornado(F5) - from my bedroom window |
Are you prepared for power outages, natural disasters or, if worse comes to worse, another terrorist attack on our country? During the April 27th tornadoes here in North Alabama (and many other areas), many people were caught empty handed, literally. They didn't have much gas in their cars, no food in their pantries, no batteries in their radios or flashlights, no candles. What did they do? They waited in VERY long lines for anything they could get. Many drove hundreds of miles to find gas and/or food.
What if something like this happened at your house? Would you be prepared? Do you have extra food, water, candles or batteries? Is the gas tank in your car more than half full?
Second half of this blog:What if you were one of the many who died in these horrible storms? Are you prepared for eternity? Will Jesus give you a hug and welcome you to heaven, or well He say, "Depart from me, I never knew you?" If you are uncertain, visit my church's website to be sure. There's only one way to heaven and that's through the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Don't be caught unprepared. You may not have tomorrow to get prepared.
One last thing from the book of Matthew, chapter 25 (NKJV).
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Under HIS wings (and prepared),
Ginger
Oooooh, good post!
ReplyDeleteGreat reminder, Ginger - on both counts. We need to be prepared - in BOTH ways.
ReplyDeleteFantastic post! Definitely need to be prepared--in both ways!
ReplyDeletePoignant! Living at the tail end of tornado alley, we don't get too many threats. Complacency, the enemy of preparation.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like in Kansas and know we should be prepared, but we rarely are. We don't have storage for extra water, and not much space for too many can goods either. I do insist having our to-go bags ready from March to the end of October. I pray nothing like what hit Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri ever happens again.
ReplyDeleteThat picture from your bedroom window is chilling.
Christina, we store our extra water in the our crawl space. When we didn't have a large pantry like we do now, we put can goods (on the half boxes they come on in the store sometimes) under our bed or in our closet on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteMy MIL used to be our neighbor before she passed away. She was the stock-piler. Me, not so much. We love to be snowed in, though. That's our time to cozy up and everyone be home and I'll bake and Jim will run the generator. I think we've gone a week before. Much past that and it would be hard. You're right, I do need to be more prepared than what I am. And as far as eternity, Come Lord Jesus come!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your heart!
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL post! We don't get tornadoes or hurricanes here, but do usually get at least one powerful / electricity-loss storm each year. Plus, according to geologists we are due for a major earthquake (est. around 9) / tsunami that occurs on this part of the coast every 300 years or so. So we do our best to be prepared physically for that sort of thing. But far more importantly, we are also prepared spiritually. Thanks so much for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteSO true. As someone has said, preparation time is never wasted. I believe daily prayer and time in God's word will keep us spiritually ready for whatever comes, but we need to take care of the natural things, too! Good reminder!
ReplyDeleteVery good reminder! Like Shelley said, we don't get hurricanes or bad tornadoes here, but there can be wind or ice storms. My family has also learned to take extra food and water with us on hiking, sightseeing, or fishing trips, too, just in case.
ReplyDeleteOh Ginger! I didn't realize you were in that area. *shiver* will be watching and checking with you next time!!
ReplyDeleteYes, we have food, water, some batteries and a genny. Part of my MK training is drawing water. LoL.