Prepared?

Note the yellow push pin above. The pin part is supposed to be touching our property, just south and a hair east of Lake Bridgeport in Wise county, Texas. The raincloud icons indicate where tornados caused damage on May 15 in the countryside of Wise and Montague counties, Millsap and greater damage to homes in Granbury, Cleburne and Ennis.

Yes, we have a cubbyhole, but not an in-ground storm cellar. We depend on there being an EF-3 or less. If it’s an EF-4 or more, only our foundation would remain, as occurred in Granbury, where at least six people lost their lives, in spite of twenty minutes warning.

I heeded the warning, calling Beloved Husband from his workshop, and followed the storms’ progress as they moved from west to east, with the heaviest to our south. We have a closet under a staircase that remains free enough from the junk-collected stuff to hold both of us and give our two cats room to explore an area that is usually off limits to them. No, we only checked it out to be certain it was ready (Okay, so sometimes items accumulate in the floor!), then returned to watch the skies and listen to the weather channels.

We were prepared for storms. We have lived the majority of our lives in what is termed tornado alley in Oklahoma and Texas, though this graphic from the same site gives a slightly different view based on frequency. When my family lived  in California, we had a different concept of being prepared for earthquakes. Preparing for east coast hurricanes is different than preparing for ice storms. Those with heavy snows prepare in other ways for being cut off during winter months. Being able to function following a life-changing event remains our goal.

Why, then, do new Christians often believe they’ve done all they need to by making a public profession of faith? True, that’s all the Bible says is required for salvation:

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:30-31)

That truly is a life-changing event! Lives do not cease to function once we’ve made that decision to place ourselves into the Lord’s will. We do continue to function following that event, and there are some instructions given in the Bible as to how.

Peter, Andrew, James, John and the other disciples followed Him, literally – though one did not believe, but did so for his own advantage. When it became obvious there was no earthly advantage in following this teacher to the cross, Judas first abandoned Jesus, then left this life altogether. There are some professing Christianity that do the same.

Others, though, like the eleven disciples, falter a bit in their faith, deny a bit as Peter, doubt some as Thomas, but continue throughout with a faith that sustains them through error and doubt. They continually updated their state of preparedness for all of life’s storms. It gives a strong foundation.

He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:48-49)