Be Prepared for Anything

It seems to me that a big hand came down and stopped the cold air from getting into Washington and Oregon. Probably there are a few other states involved, some of them quite warm, but everyone east of these are blanketed with ice and snow and they are very, very cold.

I happen to live in Washington and I still hear complaints around here like, “When will it ever warm up?” or “Where’s the sun?” Instead we should thank God that our temperatures hover around 40 degrees and the liquid that comes down out of the skies is rain rather then snow and ice. We should be praying too for the millions of folks,just like us are suffering because of loss of heat, Many don’t have power and don’t expect any for some time. Millions of people can’t get around to get any groceries either. We don’t even know what 30 below feels like. I do, because I grew up in Northern Minnesota, but we were prepared for such weather,

I imagine some of the folks experiencing the cold and snow are prepared with oil lamps, wood heat and plenty of quilts and are quite comfortable even to canned food and water. But most of them find out they have nothing. They have no groceries except what they were intending to eat that evening. They have no oil lamps, only a few scented candles They are used to using less blankets preferring to keep their temperature reset to a warmer degree. So they don’t even have the quilts to keep them warm.

I suppose many of us would say, “It serves them right!” But are you prepared? Do you have food and water put aside? Do you have oil lamps or a generator so that you can see at night? Do you have several quilts that your family can put around themselves? Or, like me, do you have a wood stove and plenty of wood so you can cook or heat your home? I know how easy it is to rely too much on modern conveniences, but it is true that these things can disappear.

Why not settle your family down this evening and decide how best you can be prepared in cases like an earthquake, an ice storm, or even one of those high wind storms we have sometimes? You will never be sorry even if nothing happens. You will know you are prepared just in case!

Is Christmas Over?

Well, Christmas is over and it’s time to put the Christmas stuff away, but is it over? The baby Jesus is only a week old and folks are saying “Oh how cute!” and “He looks a lot like you, don’t you think?” talking like the baby is brand new. Oh no, Christmas isn’t over at all. Not until Good Friday and Easter I’d say. He came only to die. And he had to do that in order to save you from your sins, mine too and the sins of the whole world!

How innocent it all looked, a sleeping little baby in a manger, a mother who looked adoringly at the little one, a man who married the mother even though he would hear how dumb he was. Some poor shepherds came to see the baby that night and a star shone that was different from the rest of the stars. Yes, it all looks kind of normal but we have worshipped that little one for 2000 years! Why? And why is the world trying so hard to take Christmas out of the holiday season? They seem to be afraid of the little one, wouldn’t you say?

That little Boy is God. He came as a little baby because he wanted to give himself to all of us. The Shepherds came because he wanted to show he came to the poor, and the wise men came to show he came also to the rich. If he had come as a king he wouldn’t be accepted nearly like a little baby born in a manger, would he?

No, he came and humbled himself so that everyone would love him. But do they? The world thinks Christmas is a day to have a party, to drink a lot, and give gifts to those we want to. Most of them do not give a thought to that little baby. But he grows up to do many fine things and he is arrested, flogged and finally hung on a tree just like a criminal, even though he had committed no sin. Why? So that all of our sins, even those of a bad criminal, can be forgiven. And he meant all of our sins. Just before he died he said, “It is finished.” He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and later went to heaven to sit with his Father.

How wonderful it is. Yet how hard it is for the world to see. We, who believe should get off our couches and help those who can’t see the wonders of Christmas know him too. That should be our New Year goal.

I wish all of you a happy new year. Go and get them!