After a very deep conversation with my sister last night, my mind has been so occupied today. My thoughts and our conversation are not directly related but it seems that it started a whirlwind in my head...
While trying to still potty train, homeschool, taxi to one part-time job, grocery shop, and keep up with laundry and sibling spats, I quizzed myself about why we haven't put anything in the backpacks we purchased this fall. They are supposed to be full of "survival gear". We discussed buying filtering waterbottles for every member of our family. It costs about $300 just to do that! We wondered about packing a set of clothing and shoes in each one with nuts, seeds, jerky, and first aid. Then we discussed that someone should carry rain gear, tents, blankets, knives, cord, weapons, maps, non-hybrid seeds, tarps...oh my!!! Who could carry all that stuff???
How can a family of ten (soon eleven) continue to eat organic, gluten free, take supplements, visit the chiropractor and orthodontist, and afford to make a stash for "later"?
I kept wondering, "how can I know what is most important for us to focus on?" I listened to a very few minutes of a webcast of Dr. Dale Sides, at Liberating Ministries for Christ. It was entitled Urban Survival. I read some links but I didn't really listen to much of the show. Through the links I learned that the items that are most necessary are most scarce. If you did own a generator or a lot of food, it would be stolen from you... I fast-forwarded to the middle, then towards the end of the webcast. The guest speaker was talking about having his bible, talking to God and listening to God. I wondered how he was incorporating that advice into the survival advice show. I didn't have time to listen and find out. But it struck me, in a peaceful way, asking God was the wisest choice.
There are people who stash money because they are afraid of being poor. There are those who hoard weapons because they'd rather die defending themselves. There are people who know all that is necessary for survival in the wild and have all the gear, but they still aren't at peace about the future. Christians do not agree whether the Lord will rapture the church out of this world before the toughest times arrive, or whether we will live through physical suffering. How can any of us be prepared when we don't know what we are preparing for?
We have family and friends who live in the mountains. They have room on their property to house our family. We've never asked to build a safe haven there. We wouldn't necessarily be able to communicate with them in order to come and stay if the worst happens. We are just going to have to trust God to tell us, if and when we need to make a change. For now, we will continue discussing and purchasing those small things that we can afford. But staying close to our Lord, keeping in the Word, holding our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ are better for us than any amount of worrying over "tomorrow".
