Are You Prepared?

When we lived in Maine our home was over one hundred years old. It had been built as a summer house near the ocean. It did not have insulation. It did not have storm windows. But it did have an old oil burning furnace. We had never had an oil burning furnace before so were naïve to say the least.

One February we had one of the coldest spells in history. The furnace ran continually. But one afternoon during that cold snap I found the house was getting colder. I put our two little ones in heavy sweaters to keep them warm. I put on a sweatshirt. But still to my dismay, by evening the house was freezing.

Beloved came home around seven from work and was shocked to see his family all bundled in jackets (I had advanced to my down parka, and the babies in their sleepers with sweaters underneath.) He went into the cellar and checked the furnace. It was not running. He checked the oil level. There was none. Like NONE! We were totally out of fuel!

We immediately called the fuel company and were told they would get there as soon as possible but they were backed up with calls. By now a full fledged blizzard had gathered. The wind roared through our not- so- tight windows. The snow pelted the glass and the doors and the outer walls. And then the lights went out. A gale force wind had taken down a pole a block away.

We lit a fire in the fireplace. We dragged out every blanket we had. We put the children between us and sat as close to the fire as we could without actually burning ourselves up. And as the bitter cold reached our bones and we could not get warm I realized then that we could literally freeze to death in our own home. We were not prepared.

Several years later we were now living in Georgia. One winter night (again record low temperatures) we had an ice storm and lost all electricity and with that heat, lights and the ability to cook. But this time we were prepared. We had plenty of wood for the fireplace. We had a kerosene heater that we dragged up from the basement. I had sleeping bags and a good supply of candles and matches. So we closed the doors to the family room, lit the kerosene heater, slept on the floor and were as snug as we could be.

The next day proved that no one in Atlanta was going to the grocery store because of the ice. But that was not a problem because we had a basement pantry full of food and water so we invited the neighbors over for spaghetti dinner fixed over the gas grill. We were prepared.

Recently Eleanor did a fabulous job of teaching The Amazing Woman class on being able to take care of our families in the face of crisis. She ended it by asking two powerful questions:

1. Are you prepared for a crisis? But the second one was more riveting:

2. “Are you prepared spiritually to meet Christ should He return in our lifetime?” It is a good question. Am I? Are you? I learned a good lesson one freezing night in Maine. Preparation makes all the difference in the world ….and sometimes that difference is life or death.