Be Prepared

My friend, Jenny McNeal, and I have been talking a lot about disaster preparedness lately.  As you know, I was caught off-guard in Haiti when the terrible earthquake of 1/12/10 occurred.  I went to Japan after their massive quake and tsunami occurred.  In my homestate of Alabama, nearly 400 people died and thousands of others were injured in last month's tornadoes.  It seems that all around us, we are being accosted by natural disasters unlike any other time... 

...Which brings me to disaster preparedness.  I am not even remotely one given to sensationalizing the times, but I don't mind being prepared to a reasonable degree.  It's not beyond reason to have a filtration system that you can control manually.  A few good coolers, some cans of food and maybe a generator aren't ridiculous.  I happen to have a little camp stove, and I'm hoping to get my hands on a solar oven...just because I like the idea of using solar energy to cook, but I'm not opposed to the fact that it could cook if our power sources were gone.  I'm also given to learning what sorts of local wild plantlife can be eaten.  In fact, just last weekend, I learned about 2 little things that grow along the NC coast that I can pick and eat at any time.  Why, did you know that you can eat kudzu?  I'm not joking.  We ate the young and tender shoots stir-fried when we were in Taiwan.  It's actually pretty good. 

Jenny and I are trying to think wisely without going overboard.  Do I have a closet where I am hoarding end time supplies?  Not even slightly.  But I am making a checklist in the back of my mind of the items I have on hand that can be useful if needed.  During the storms of last month, we had 4 people over 75 (actually 3 of them were over 88) and 2 kids in the house, and the power went out.  We have to think about these sorts of things.  Suddenly, the responsibility of people who couldn't fend for themselves was in our minds.  Wayne and I are not people who fear, so we don't worry about these kinds of things, but it doesn't hurt to think ahead a bit. 

Be wise.  Don't be desperate.  Seek God and follow His instructions.  Trust in the Lord to lead you in the ways that you should be prepared.  Power will be sure to go out from time to time.  Easy to prepare food is never a bad idea.  Don't forget that water is a staple and that there are simple ways to have clean water. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding.  In everything that you do, submit to God, and He will tell you which way you should go." Proverbs 3:5