Would You Be Prepared?

[Evie1980]

I was on holiday on Bali (Indonesia) just the past week. I live near Bali so it was a lovely place to go for a week of rest. Bali is an island and like most islands in the Pacific Ocean it a place where you need to be prepared for a tsunami. In the hotel we stayed they had tsunami evacuation plans as well as a warning system. You are told where to evacuate to when you hear a certain sound. The same as when you are walking around town. One night, as my friend and I were walking around town looking for a place to eat, I saw one of these signs. This is not remarkable in itself except for the fact that the evacuation point was 2500m away. In essence that is 2.5 kms or just under 2 miles. That got me thinking - could I actually make it? Am I fit enough or ready for it? If I heard the sirens could I run and trust my body to do the best it can to take me to where I need to be so I can be safe?

Anyway as I was laying in bed that night I couldn't help but think about the evacuation plans. There is no way we could ever plan enough for such a disaster or predict it. The Bible mentions that we need to be prepared in any circumstances for whatever may come. For example the story of the women waiting for bridegroom - some with their oil and some without. Or being prepared for the theif in the night. Or when the master returns to the house after being away - will he find the servants asleep or awake? We need to be ready for Jesus and His calling in our life. Therefore planning and preparation is important. In Bali you feel safe because you know there is a plan. We are ready for the "what if this happens" moment.

However, what about those times when you have to walk by faith and not by sight? Right now I am back in Dili but the threat of tsunamis is still real although are no evacuation or warning plans here. We are left to respond to the situation as it happens. How does this work for me? I mean how do we deal with those moments/situations that we are uncertain about or don't know are going to happen? Sometimes I am not going to be able to see a clear path to safety or I may not know what the right thing to do is. I may not hear a warning siren. I may not have someone telling me or guiding me to where I need to be. In these moments I need to trust the planner and creator of all things. There is only so much I can do in this life before I have to leave the rest to God.

So tomorrow I am going to wake up and pray that the Lord will help me plan and prepare for my life. I will pray that He will help me to buy my oil and do all the things I need to be ready to serve Him. I will also pray that I will be ready for all those things that I may not be able to prepare for and will trust in His plans.

 

[Touma]

Yes, we should always be prepared in any season. If things are calm and tranquil like they might be now, and then suddenly they are shaken completely. This is a good reminder. Thank you!


And I pray special blessings of protection over you while you are there. =)

 

[Schneiderman]

I live on Long Island which is non-evacuable. We have a few bridges and tunnels, most of which bring us to other islands with more bridges or tunnels before you can reach the mainland. And all of these bridges and tunnels are crowded on a daily basis, without the occurrence of a disaster. If LI and NYC had to be evacuated, you would have nearly 10 million people attempting to cross a few bridges and tunnels to safety.

It's not going to happen.

Best bet is to prepare to stay in your home or some other safe shelter and try to survive whatever disaster comes along. Unfortunately we seem to have this crazy societal notion that preparing for a natural disaster is only for paranoid conspiracy theorists and anyone who even thinks about such things must be an insane basement dwelling cultist.

 

[k450ofu3k-gh-5ipe]

I'm land locked ftw !

I lived in Surabaya when I was little for three years. Indonesian was actually my first language although I've sadly forgotten all of it.

 

[K9_Trainer]

Yeah there's not much to be concerned over in my area.

I'm in CA, but far enough inland that a tsunami wouldn't be a concern. There's no hurricanes, or tornadoes. Basically the only thing around here is earthquakes. Our buildings are made to stand up to most of them, so if mother nature decides to throw one at us strong enough to knock down an earthquake proof building, then I will quietly accept my fate, whatever it is lol.

 

[sampa]

Good thoughts Evie. The disasters are increasing and many wont be prepared. Their priorities are on ipods. The electricity goes out for an extended time, will churches know how to worship. Who will help their neighbor? Those that have prepared, will they share? I'm preparing little by little and trying to learn what I need to do, but at the same time I pray my heart is in the right place with kingdom values and thinking of others in time of need.

 

[Evie1980]

Yes, we should always be prepared in any season. If things are calm and tranquil like they might be now, and then suddenly they are shaken completely. This is a good reminder. Thank you!


And I pray special blessings of protection over you while you are there. =)

Thank you for your prayers. You can never have too many of those and I do feel the Lord's protection wherever I go. I believe that the Lord is preparing me for things beyond my imagination. It is funny how we, as humans, always want to know what is going to happen next so that we can prepare for it. However, the more I have lived, I realise that this rarely the case! We have to be prepared and then we find out what is going to happen!

 

[Evie1980]

Best bet is to prepare to stay in your home or some other safe shelter and try to survive whatever disaster comes along. Unfortunately we seem to have this crazy societal notion that preparing for a natural disaster is only for paranoid conspiracy theorists and anyone who even thinks about such things must be an insane basement dwelling cultist.

Well I am hoping nothing like that has to happen but I know people who have been evacuated out of Dili for reasons other than natural disasters. I have an evacuation clause in my contract here in case any civil unrest. But there are plenty of things that I need to be prepared for on a daily basis. Unfotunately I am a little lazy somedays! Better get going on those plans!

 

[Evie1980]

I lived in Surabaya when I was little for three years. Indonesian was actually my first language although I've sadly forgotten all of it.

I tried to learning Indonesian but I was not that great at it! It would be very useful now! You should go visit Indonesia again. It is a lovely place in the world.

 

[Evie1980]

I'm in CA, but far enough inland that a tsunami wouldn't be a concern. There's no hurricanes, or tornadoes. Basically the only thing around here is earthquakes. Our buildings are made to stand up to most of them, so if mother nature decides to throw one at us strong enough to knock down an earthquake proof building, then I will quietly accept my fate, whatever it is lol.

Lol! We can only prepare so much and let God have control over the rest!

 

[mjmcmillan]

We don't get much in the way of tsunamis here, but if you're near the Great Lakes you do have to be aware of the possibility of seiche waves. These are caused when a low pressure system crosses the lake, drawing a bulge of water along with it. When the low exits the lake the water in the bulge drops and sends a wave down the length and across the lake.

I live not too far (in fact, maybe too close) to Tornado Alley. Here in the Mid-West severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can be a serious danger and you may have only minutes if/when the sirens sound to get to underground shelters.

 

[Evie1980]

Good thoughts Evie. The disasters are increasing and many wont be prepared. Their priorities are on ipods. The electricity goes out for an extended time, will churches know how to worship. Who will help their neighbor? Those that have prepared, will they share? I'm preparing little by little and trying to learn what I need to do, but at the same time I pray my heart is in the right place with kingdom values and thinking of others in time of need.

We have to be prepared here. We have prepaid electricity as well as power outages. We ran out of "pulsa" (prepaid electricity) the other day and were without power for a while because we didn't get another slip! So when the power goes out you first walk out of the house to check if it everyone without power. Then you check the pulsa box if you are the only one without power and then get the pulsa slip, enter in all the numbers, press enter and you have power again. If it is everyone you walk to the generator and start it up (not fun at night time as it is loud, smelly and right next to our house). Then walk to the front of the house and switch from mains power to generator power and we have electricity again.

The hard part with all of this is that you tend to not rely on anyone or anything! People come and go in this transient lifestyle that I live. Electricity comes and goes. Food in the supermarket is unreliable so are the restaurants. Road closures, crocodiles, bad driving... tsunamis sometimes seem smallest of problems (except after the earthquake in Japan when there was a warning out for all the islands in the region). Not being able to rely on anything makes you prepared for all situations though also means that you struggly in long-term relationships as well as with God. It is hard not to be too self sufficient.

 

[Evie1980]

We don't get much in the way of tsunamis here, but if you're near the Great Lakes you do have to be aware of the possibility of seiche waves. These are caused when a low pressure system crosses the lake, drawing a bulge of water along with it. When the low exits the lake the water in the bulge drops and sends a wave down the length and across the lake.

Wow that is interesting. I never knew about them. I just did disasters with my students and I am sure that they would like to know about them too.

Yeah, I don't think that I would like to be around when there are tornados near by, We get monsoons with severe storms but so far they haven't been too bad. Only one downpour nearly flooded my classroom. So far so good.