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Monday morning, and one glance at the headlines tells me we’re at war. Bill Clinton says it’s the vast right-wing conspiracy; FoxNews says its the liberal left. A preacher in Orlando thinks it’s all Bill Maher’s fault, and Bill Maher agrees with Sam Harris that it’s all religion’s fault. The gay and lesbian community blames centuries of prejudice and oppression on religious fundamentalism, while Christian conservatives blame those gays for the moral breakdown of our nation. And don’t even get me started on Iran.
I wonder what’s going to happen on Tuesday?
Whatever it is, let’s blame Oprah. Because it certainly won’t have anything to do with my own selfish heart, or the enemy who preys on it.
“So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to mankind.” 1 Corinthians 10:12-13
“Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” Matthew 4:10-11
I found a new release at the library the other day, called The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women who went from Career to Family and Back Again, by Emma Gilbey Keller. After reading one line of the inside cover, I immediately wanted to read more – ”An inspiring book that argues that women can have it all — just not all at once.”
This echoes what I have long felt — that life happens in seasons.
For seven years I have been a mother of preschoolers. Their needs have been constant and basic — food, clothes, diapers, potty-training, bathing, and so on. Early motherhood is physically and emotionally demanding, and it doesn’t have a definite end moment, it kind of tapers off like the waves on a beach. But it does end.
And now I’m (suddenly!) the mother of elementary-aged children. If I find myself doting over them too much, putting on their clothes for them or reminding them to put their library book in the backpack, then they quickly call me on it. They need to do those things for themselves and this is a good and healthy part of growing up.
Realizing this has been difficult for me. I’ve been restless. I thought about cleaning more, taking up helicopter parenting, or shopping. But none of those sounded appealing.
So I picked up some contract writing work that has been keeping me busy, but yesterday I sent in the invoice and today I’m reflecting on family and career. As I write this, the house is abnormally quiet and through the open window I hear a truck in the distance and birds chirping outside. It’s peaceful, and didn’t I yearn for this during those rowdy summer days?
Like the cool breeze coming through my window — so different from the summer heat – I know my season is changing. May God direct my steps.
Stay calm. Don’t panic! Focus. Easier said than done, right?
We’ve all “lost our heads” at some point. It’s not fun, and certainly wouldn’t be helpful in an emergency situation. So this brings me to the final point I want to make about biblical preparedness – cultivating a sound mind.
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13
I’m tempted to skirt over this by rattling off a bunch of trivial examples of how my personal stress levels impact my spiritual effectiveness. But that would be avoiding the real issue that I want to address in these posts – preparation for some type of wide-scale disaster. The truth is, I don’t know how I will react in such an emergency and I therefore don’t feel qualified to give advice about it.
Instead I would rather let others tell you – others who have been through it.
After my last post, fellow blogger God’s Girl sent me a story about a Tennessee minister who lived through a tornado, largely because the Holy Spirit had been preparing him beforehand. Here is what he wrote, about the moment he realized that he was actually going to be inside the tornado:
“At this point, I feel like I should confess that I was terrified, but the truth is that I wasn’t really scared. Events were unfolding too quickly for me to feel much fear. Besides, I had been talking to God for forty minutes about my ability to survive in any circumstance. So, rather than fear, I felt this adrenaline rush and this intense sense of challenge…
The rumble was very loud by now, and I heard cars honking, metal screeching, and transformers exploding. Dude, I said jokingly to myself, you’re in a tornado. This is even bigger than Backpacker Magazine. You’re gonna be on Oprah.
It sounds flippant now, but at the time, humor was my way of staying in control of my emotions, and it worked. Panic is the number one killer in survival situations. Presence of mind, a sense of purpose, and even humor are often the very elements that determine who will live and who will die in the midst of a disaster. By talking to God, by looking for a lesson to be shared with others, and by kidding myself, I was able to stay calm and to act smart. By the grace of God, staying calm and acting smart probably kept me alive.” — David M. Young. Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
PREPAREDNESS TIP #3: Get your head in the game. Being a Christian means that when bad things happen, we know where to turn and where to find real hope. What good can we do, if we’re running around panicking along with everyone else?
HELPFUL RESOURCE: Preparedness Now “Always strive to keep a cool head in an emergency. Remain alert and well-informed at all times. Do not allow your guard to drop unless you are in a secured environment. If properly harnessed, fear can serve you well during an emergency, but you must learn to control it.” Aton Edwards, Preparedness Now, p 43.
This is my last post in this series.
Besides Noah, the Old Testament provides many examples of Spirit-filled preparation, but I want to move into the New Testament because there’s one verse that gets me every time:
“Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.” Matthew 10:9.
Here Jesus sends out the 12 disciples with a direct command to NOT prepare physically ahead of time. They should be completely dependent on God’s ability to care for them.
This verse in combination with Matthew 6:25-34 (don’t worry, tomorrow will worry about itself) prevents many, many Christians from thinking seriously about preparedness. We say: when our time comes we will accept it. God will provide the solution, I just need to pray and trust.
Of course God will take care of your family! Definitely you should pray and trust! But here’s a question for you: HOW does God provide for his followers?
In the verse above, Jesus tells the apostles not to take extra things because “the worker is worth his keep.” They stayed in homes, ate food, and slept in beds provided by willing families. As a wife and mother I can easily imagine the preparation that went into housing one of Jesus’ apostles for a night, a week, a month, or longer.
God uses His people to provide for others. His people – that’s you and me! We should be ready and willing to help whenever possible, and that includes unforeseen emergencies and disasters.
Another point from the New Testament: at the end of Acts Chapter 11, we hear about some prophets who came to Antioch, predicting that a severe famine would spread over Rome. I’m sure this led them to pray and trust that God would provide for His people. But they also put action to their prayers: “The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.” Keep in mind – the famine had not yet begun. All they had was the word of some prophets, and they acted in faith.
PREPAREDNESS TIP #2: Practice being aware of others and their needs. In the aftermath of a disaster, the people around you will be all you have for a while until help arrives. Are they hurt? Do they need shelter? Water? First aid? Could you help people that are trapped nearby?
And before a disaster, the Holy Spirit may urge you prepare something for them ahead of time, as in Acts 11. (Please note here that listening to the Holy Spirit is critical. We can’t plan for every possible disaster and provide for everybody in need — the list would be endless. But because our Lord knows what awaits us, He can impart wisdom and guidance to us through the Spirit.)
HELPFUL RESOURCE: Christian Emergency Network. Formed after 9/11, the CEN operates under the premise that Christians should “BE AWARE of the times, Be Ready and then rally all Christians to BE THERE praying for the victims, caring for them in sensitive ways, and then sharing the Hope found only in Christ.” The CEN believes that caring for others includes attending to their physical needs in an emergency.
