Are you ready?

Last month, a friend, who lives in a neighborhood close to me, and I went to the UT campus to give a radio interview. My friend is the pastor of a church that meets in one of the elementary schools where we live in Steiner Ranch. The purpose of the interview is to offer some reflections on the Steiner Ranch fires of Labor Day Weekend, 2011. The interviewer is working on a program for the one-year anniversary of the fires.

As the two of us talked about what we did during that weekend and the aftermath of the event, our conversation shifted to an interesting topic. The interviewer asked us what we had taken with us when we exited our homes. We gave the usual response - pets, valuable papers, important photgraphs. Then, she asked us if we are prepared for the next time an evacuation is required. A great question. Of course, you can't expect two pastors to give a simple answer to a question such as "are you ready?"

We used the moment to talk about what is really important in life - family, home (different than "house") , faith, the grace of God. We also spoke about the things of this world that we appreciate, but that are not absolutely vital - property, possessions, and the like.

A crisis, or the potential for a crisis, has a way of making clear the priorities of our life. Although we live most of the time in what I call "ordinary times," we might do well to consider what we value in case we are faced with a crisis, or even death. For example, we know that there will be a "next time" in terms of a crisis or evacuation. Are you ready? What will you bring with you? (My son, Talbot, has asked me to rescue his Pete Rose autographed baseball)...Then, ask yourself if you are ready, eternally. Not taking with you the things that are temporary, but the assurance of things eternally. If the Lord calls us - during a time of crisis or in an ordinary time - are you at peace? Do you need to make any preparations?

Fr. Mike