Are You Prepared?

My thoughts and prayers are with those who are in the path of Hurricane Laura this morning as it makes landfall. Back in the late 1990’s, we lived for a couple of years in Slidell, Louisiana on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, a suburb of New Orleans. We knew very little about hurricanes when we moved there, living all of our lives in the Mid-South. From day one, caring folks started telling us the supplies that we would need on hand for hurricane season – a case of water for each person, canned food with a a hand can opener, batteries, a weather radio, plywood for the windows, etc…. My first thought was – “If there is a hurricane coming this way, I’m outta here!” In the time that we were there, we did actually have to evacuate once. Some chose to “stick it out” and remained in their homes, even though there was an evacuation order. They thought, “It won’t get us.” We chose to leave. It was a scary thing to board up and sandbag your house, praying that water doesn’t get in and ruin everything you have. It was also a time to decide what was really important to you – space in the car with four people and a dog was limited. If you could only take a few things – what would you take? Driving away, knowing that your house and everything in it might be destroyed was very unsettling. We had prepared as best as we could. Now, it was in God’s hands.

It occurred to me that this is much like eternity. For we know, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). We were not put on this earth to stay, for we are “strangers and pilgrims on this earth” (Hebrews 11:13). We all know that Judgment Day is coming. Some are doing all that they can to prepare. Others are holding out, thinking, “I’ve got time – I’ll become a Christian later.” We shouldn’t put off until tomorrow what we know to do today. We must “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13). We must prepare the best that we can, and then, leave it in God’s hands. Simply blessed, Courtney