The NOAA weather alerts pinged off and on all day, sometimes arriving before I could finish reading the one before. My heart sank when the alerts changed from "Winter storm watch" to "WINTER STORM WARNING". An icy storm was the last thing I wanted.
According to NOAA, the storm wasn't just a possibility, it was a done deal. It was coming, and I needed get ready. (Admittedly, the storm did arrive, just not at my house.)
My neighbor, Sam, had been to the store, where he drinks coffee and discusses the issues of life and the world with the other men. It's been a ritual for decades. He came back from drinking coffee with a firm certainty that a bad storm was coming, and we needed to get ready.
I was already prepared for the storm. I had been to town and bought dog food, butter, and spinach. That's what I wanted on hand if I got snowed in. I'd also bought carrots. They're not my usual winter storm fare, but I needed them for the beef stew I was cooking.
My preparations were both adequate and complete. I thought.
Sam decided we should bring firewood from the tractor shed to the house and stack it in the wood rack on my porch. Just in case the power went out.
"I already have enough wood for two days. That's plenty."
Sam disagreed.
It was raining. I didn't want to get out. I whined and argued.
Sam was adamant.
"Look at the radar, Sam. We're on the edge of the storm."
"You need the wood. Just in case."
"Now, Sam. Even if we get snow, the temperature's in the mid-thirties. It's too warm to stick."
"Come on. Let's get it done." Sam would not give up.
We hauled the wood in the rain.
The question of storm preparation has been on my mind ever since. When we know a storm is coming, we're wise to prepare for the survival of our families.
But what about the spiritual storms that are coming?
Scripture is very clear that, one day, Jesus is coming back to get His church, and there will some tough times before He does. It's not a storm we can track on radar, but it's even more certain than the most urgent warning.
Jesus is coming and, when He does, there won't be time to run to the store for bread and milk.
"Behold, I tell you a mystery;
we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet;
for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we shall be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 nasb
We can prepare for that day, and the Apostle Paul has told us how.
"Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."
1 Cor 15:68 nasb
In all our preparations, lets be sure to make the preparations that matter most.
Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ is coming again. Be ready.
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In case you missed one of this week's posts, here are the links: The Monarch Migration Badge, The Sermon Without Words, A Matter of Perspective, Living in Goshen: God's Best, Embracing Our Personal Gethsemane, What is the Point of Suffering: Extracting the Precious, and Mamie and the Ink Stain.
Be sure to check out my new Amazon Author Page.
#stormwarning #milkandbread #secondcoming #beready #Christian
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