People routinely mock me for the efforts I take to prepare for what may come. They tell me that I should enjoy today and live it up because today may be all we have. Maybe they're right, but if they're wrong and we have hard days ahead, the attitude of the fable grasshopper about how the world owes us a living won't help us weather the storm. You hear the stories about famine, war, disease, terror, etc. abroad? You think those things won't happen here? I hope you're right.
I would be happy to be wrong in many instances. If I have decided to learn skills as if all the gadgets on whom the rising generation became reliant suddenly cease to exist or to grow my own food or to live on my own, forage for myself, and provide for myself in the wilderness are folly and I never need to know them, that will be a happy day. However, it would be foolish and arrogant of me to assume that this generation MUST be able to kick the can further down the road. It would be despotic of me to burden my offspring with that obligation when I am able to do something about it today. I am not a fool, and I think that we will be the generation that has to pay the piper.
Americans have a huge issue with their unwillingness to sacrifice. We don't want to go to war unless we can win quickly. We don't want to get involved unless all we have to do is march arm in arm down the street or mail in a cheque. If it costs us too much, we are oh so unwilling to sacrifice. Fortunately for us, we don't usually have to. America produces the lion's share of what people in this world actually NEED (food), and so we will be one of the last nations to notice the dearth of our day. However, financial, civil, and health turmoil continue to envelope the globe, and the oceans are no longer enough to protect us, particularly given Obama's lax border policy.
Mark my words, turmoil will come here. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but it will come soon, and it may last the rest of your life. The day may come when we forget Tang, dental floss, microwave ovens, cell phones, TiVO, ad infinitum because we are too busy trying to feed and protect our own families. That's the condition of the lion's share of people in the world, and our time may come. Happy will be the man who has put away some for the future and who knows how to do something to provide for his family. In the apocalypse, nobody will care about entrepreneurs, architects, college professors, computer engineers and the like. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
Although I hate cliches as a rule, I believe it's better to be prepared and not need to be than to need something for which you didn't prepare. The great majority of people in my zip code live paycheck to paycheck; many of them are completely reliant on government in some way. Even if they were interested in preparation, they may not have space or fundage with which to accomplish that feat beyond a 72H kit. If something happens, they will be desperate to find food and fuel for their families. They will do whatever it takes, even if it's illegal, unethical, and immoral. Moreover, they will demand that I share with them when some of them have been villainous towards me while the rest ignored me completely. How convenient that my charity is the only charity that counts! For the past several years, I've looked to turn my house into a refuge, not only for the mind, but also for the body. I stocked the pantry, planted a garden eastward towards Eden, learned to do a few things, and made a plan. Even the government thinks you should (go to www.ready.gov). I wonder sometimes if they want you to prepare so they know whose homes to raid when things get tough! Even if you have a 72H kit, that's something. I've had one of those ever since we lived in Florida when I was a teenager.
When the rubber hits the road, you are the only person on whom you can reliably depend. What you have and what you do and what you are will be all that you can expect to help you in the moment of trial. Turmoil will come here. Maybe it won't reach you. Maybe it will come in another generation. If I'm wrong, I will be glad. I refuse to let the flowery language of the parliament jesters in congress calm me like it does the somnambulent public. I am glad I don't have ebola. I am glad I'm not upside down in my house. I expect some day that the pirate's code will apply for most people, and I'm doing what I can to prepare for that day.
I know I can't do everything, but I do what I can. I trust that if the day comes God will smile upon the preparations I made and augment my paltry efforts. Maybe He will send an Elijah to multiply my oil and meal. I do this as a show of faith in His warnings, of faith in His promises, and of faith in His ability to make more of me than I can make of myself. I am trying to set my spiritual self right before Him so that I have claim on His promises when the situation grows dire. I am trying to prepare in the ways I can conceive. I urge you to do the same. Happy will be the man who, when the Master comes to His field, is found ready.
When all is said and done, the most important thing you can do is to repent. Behind all the storms of mortality, beyond all the bloodshed and conflict among men, there is a greater battle for the souls of men being fought beyond this world. Some of the righteous will be called home immediately; unfortunately for the wicked, some of them will be too. If you do not survive but have drawn close to Christ before He calls you home, you will feel better in God's presence. If you survive and have Christ's assistance, you will be able to help Him feed His sheep. Whatever happens, God is really what we need. Repent, all ye ends of the earth! Set your homes and your hearts right so that they are fit abode for Him Who Knoweth All Things, and then you will have courage whatever storms mount.
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