Are You Living With a False Sense of Security?

Here’s a reality question. Do you really have sufficient food and water storage for one year? Recently information was revealed that the majority of a large nationwide mix of individuals who thought they had a year’s supply of food for their family, actually only had 90 days!  And of the individuals who thought they had a years supply of water only had 3 weeks!  Wow. Talk about a false sense of security, eh?  (Let’s at least hope that the situation has been remedied since the results of the analysis).

In my opinion, what’s more disturbing though is the vast majority of individuals who know…really know…that they need to store a years supply of food, water, and other necessary emergency supplies but who have not even begun.  It reminds me of the joke of the guy who’s stranded on the top of his roof due to flood waters.

The man prays and prays for the Lord to spare him.  Interrupting his prayers was a man in a small life raft, offering the man safe passage.  The praying man waved the life raft on, assuring the would-be rescuer that he would be just fine.  The man continues to pray for help.  Shortly thereafter a helicopter arrives to take the man from his roof.  The man waves the helicopter on convinced that the Lord would spare him in answer to his prayers. Finally, the flood waters rise enough to drown the man. As he’s standing before the Lord he asks Him why He didn’t answer his prayers?  Naturally the Lord responds that He did indeed send the life raft and the helicopter.

Are we ignoring the life rafts and helicopters?  Have we as a nation not had sufficient warning that we need to be more prepared for the disasters in our life?  Do we need to be subjected first hand to a tsunami, the Teton Dam breaking, an earthquake, a debilitating ice storm, or a ferocious hurricane before we wake up and truly prepare?  Is there really any fact-based doubt in anyone’s mind that we need to take responsibility for our own well-being in the midst of a calamity?

Recently my local electric company and gas company officials were questioned as to their availability for a restitution of power and gas should there be a major disaster.  The gas company informed us that they had 30 employees to take care of over 450,000 homes. The power company informed us that they had only 4 backhoes to take care of that many homes as well. In other words, there is not going to be a quick fix in the event of a true catastrophe.  No matter how much we pay them, our demands for a restitution of service will go unheard.  It’s simply a matter of fact.

My neighbor is a fireman.  A relatively close neighbor is a surgeon. And yet another is a National Guardsman.  But does this mean that these individuals will be on hand for their neighbors should there be a catastrophe? Nope.  Sorry. These individuals will be doing what they are trained to be doing…and doing it elsewhere.  Heck.  They are hardly ever home with things are going well, let alone when there’s a disaster.

4 in 100 families who religiously believe in a doomsday scenario are appropriately prepared with a years supply of necessary items.  Needless to say, those are some awful statistics—and this is among those who are religiously convinced individuals. What about the rest of society that simply doesn’t care or take time to think about such preparedness?  A lot of lives will be unnecessarily lost and a lot of hearts will be unnecessarily burdened if we do not take care of our needs for tomorrow, today.

May we all take a solemn responsibility for our well-being that we may be in a position to help others who are truly in need when times get really, really tough.