Last Monday my father told me about a tropical storm that was heading our way, and should make landfall by Friday. I kept an eye on the storm, and prepared myself for Friday.

Then the Government called for a full shut-down Thursday night!

This means every business must be closed by 6:00 (we cancelled church that night), and people should be at home. By 6:30, police were already shutting down shops that were remaining open. The reason for this is because the storm may have come earlier than expectedly.

Something like this can be kind of frightening

But not for me

Because I knew what to do

Preparing for a tropical storm is actually pretty simple

1. Keep the windows closed (rain may come in)
2. Fill buckets with water because the water may get turned off
3. Have batteries in your flashlights because the power will go out
4. And make sure there aren’t any weakened tress in your yard that the wind can blow down
   

Shortly after 6:00 I was safely home, and ready for the storm

The storms of life usually don’t take us by surprise. But every once in a while they come up unexpectedly. In that moment, we must know how to prepare for them.

The other part is taking the unexpected storm seriously

Thursday night just before 6:00 a church member’s cooking gas for her stove went out. She called me desperately and asked if it was possible to get a replacement. Since cooking is important I bought a replacement and brought it to her.

As I came back a truck-load of police with guns were shutting down shops!

This is understandable since the Government had called for a shut down. The sad thing is more than a few shops were still open at 6:30, and lots of people were in the road, though they weren’t supposed to be.

In other words….they didn’t take it seriously

Their thinking was “oh this storm won’t be that serious!” And they were right since the sky was clear by Friday afternoon.

But some day the serious storm will come!!

People say a storm that comes from the West will do a dramatic amount of damage to us. By God’s grace, we have never experienced that. But eventually that storm from the West will arrive. And those who don’t take it seriously will pay a price.

The physical and spiritual storms of life must be taken seriously.

Because they have the power to do great damage.