Preparedness

The air turns dark with a greenish tint. Lightening fills the sky and thunder rolls loudly in your ears. Tornado weather. I’ve seen more than my share of them, growing up in Kansas and then living in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Good ole tornado alley. At school, we had tornado drills … duck and cover. We would clamber under our desks and cover our heads.

My mother, on the other hand, thought the idea was to wait until the tornado sirens were blaring before we were to do anything. We lived upstairs and the only way down was an outside wooden stairway with a corrugated tin roof … which sounds especially wonderful when it is hailing. As tree limbs fell past and lightening uprooted trees nearby, we would slip and slide our way down the stairs and run for a basement two houses away.

We, personally, were not prepared. I no longer live in tornado alley, but if you do, here is a website to help in your tornado preparedness:

http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/index.shtm

With the recent earthquake in Japan, we’ve been hearing a lot about what to do when the earth shakes. I remember a small earthquake in Kansas when I was in elementary school. Earthquakes were not something we had been given training for, so I just listened as the dishes in the cupboard rattled … wondering if any action on my part was required.

Years later, when I lived in Boise, Idaho I sat at my desk one morning, when the hanging plant above me began to sway. Not a good sign. My boss came to my doorway and shouted, “#@%&, I think we are having an earthquake”, and promptly threw his nicely suited body onto the floor. Jumping right back up, he said, “I don’t think that’s what we’re supposed to do.” He moved to the doorway and said, “I think we’re supposed to stand in a doorway.”

As I watched this spectacle, the plant continued to swing and the floor felt like it was rippling. We were obviously not prepared. Even though you think you don’t live in earthquake country, maybe you should check out this website:

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/earthquakes.shtm

Did you read the Left Behind series of books? Those books explained in great detail what the Bible has to say about the end of life as we know it. Christ-followers call it the Rapture, when Jesus will return to earth in the clouds. The Bible tells us no one knows when this will happen. It is up to us to be prepared for that event.

If you are not ready for that day, the information you need is available here:

http://www.bibleontheweb.com/Bible.asp

“And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master's word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they'll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God's trumpet blast! He'll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they'll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we'll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.” I Thess. 4:15-18 (MSG)