Storm Warnings, Storm Preparations

We missed Hurricane Matthew. On purpose. I’m sure you understand why.

If you have never been in a hurricane warning zone in the days prior to the storm, you have missed an intriguing study in human behavior. Unique vocabulary fills news and social media: barometric pressure, millibar, storm surge, wind velocity, cone, eye wall … The Weather Channel is the most watched station. Reporters do crazy things like stand outside to show you the wind isn’t blowing yet or interview people buying paper plates and bottled water — and beer. (There’s a way to diminish the terror of it all, I guess.) And you see all kinds of vehicles driving around with plywood tied to the top as people prepare to protect their windows and glass doors from flying roof tiles and forgotten potted plants.

A simple trip to the grocery store in the days before a storm is high adventure. Cars line up out into the road as people wait to find a parking place. “Don’t worry, we will have more bottled water delivered in a couple of hours.” You literally can’t move because every single cart in the store is in use. “Will seven loaves of bread be enough?” The check-out lines reach back into the aisles. “Batteries? Seriously?!?! They were all gone yesterday.”

Recently we decided to cut our South Florida trip short as Hurricane Matthew approached. It took us two times longer than usual to get out of the city because the flow of traffic blocked every gas station and mega-grocery store entrance lane. People were preparing.

Some people ask, “Is all of that preparation really necessary? Why do folks down there get so nervous at a little rain?” Historic reality tells us that if the roads are obstructed, trunks can’t get in with fresh supplies of gas for generators and cars. Eighteen wheelers need to get through to restock food supplies and water – especially if water sources have been compromised. And if the power is out for days or weeks, the banks are closed and ATMs don’t work or they aren’t refilled with cash. And if people run out of coffee … Let’s just say things get dicey.

We have noticed that people respond to threats of impending doom very differently.

The responses to the storm warnings are all across the spectrum. Some people have storm supplies refreshed every spring and they put up their storm shutters a week ahead of the predicted land fall time even though they then live in darkness while the sun still shines. On the other hand, some are in total denial and don’t even bring in their patio furniture until the rain starts to fall. Some respond with delay tactics – waiting until the day before the storm to do the basics: get extra water, fill up their gas tanks, get some extra cash out of the bank — and buy jerky.

And it’s different in the west and the north where there are snow storms and ice storms and blizzards every year. They are a part of the rhythm of life. So folks there routinely prepare for winter storms. But in the south and in the tropics, though hurricane season comes every year, there may be long spans of time before there is an actual hurricane even in the vicinity. It’s easy to get relaxed and complacent and forget what is reality and what is urban legend. Storm prep decision-making can get moldy from lack of use.

But storm prep decisions need to be made and, fortunately, the thing about hurricanes is that you have plenty of warning. Thanks to technology (and Jim Cantore), hurricanes are not surprises anymore. There is time to prepare and make decisions and take action. So when the depression becomes a tropical storm and then it becomes a category 1 hurricane and then finally the watch becomes a warning, the decision process does kick in – but with varying degrees of concern.

And after the storm arrives there will be people who question their storm prep, thinking they have wasted their time and money and effort because the storm veered north and they only deal with a couple of fallen palm fronds. But those same people could be the envy of their neighbors if the storm veers south and the nightmare becomes reality. Their regret at over preparing comes nowhere near the regret of those who under prepare.

History can teach us about preparing for hurricanes — and other kinds of storms.

This week as secret tapes are released, levels of wretchedness are measured and excused or denied, and the “We are great vs We can be great again” debates rage on in the political realm, I wonder if we might be missing the heart of the matter, and as a consequence we neglect our “storm preparations.”

These timeless words have given me pause:

If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you,  you shall [radically sever those practices and put a stop to those who endorse and support what is contrary to God so that it is irradiated] … It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 13:12-18

Weren’t those things meant for another time and another people?

If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Jeremiah 18:7-10

Is the state of our culture really that serious to God?

Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ Jeremiah 18:11

I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 21:5 and 10

What would cause Him to turn against a culture, a country, a civilization? Why would God do that?

Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,  and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—  therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth.  And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. … So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Jeremiah 19:4-11

History teaches us.

God is unchangeable in His character. What He loves is eternally set. What He despises is eternally set. What He blesses is eternally consistent and what He destroys is eternally consistent. We must know the difference between where His favor is found and where His judgement rests – because there are some places where we find refuge and there are some places we don’t want to go.

We are His people.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 14:2

We don’t participate in that which God abhors. We don’t applaud that which grieves Him. We don’t enable those who champion a cause contrary to His. We don’t put our confidence in that which He does not enable.

And we don’t miss the point.

We “inquire and make search and ask diligently.” We investigate and we understand that what we see around us is a reality check. So we pay attention to gain an indication of what is coming and to form a wise response.

What we see unfolding in our culture will be consistent with history – the storm is coming.

What is a wise response to what we see?

So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober… having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation … Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. I Thessalonians 5:6 – 12

We don’t get so polemic or irritated or shocked by the symptoms that we are distracted from the root issues.

We don’t live in fear because the God of the storm is our Father. He is at work accomplishing His promises. He is bringing to pass His purposes.

Rather, we pursue our mission with urgency and (resilient hope) because we are wise enough to prepare in the face of storm warnings. (Pay attention to how the early church responded when they were immersed in a culture gone mad.)

What are you learning from history? Do you see the warnings? What kind of preparations are you making?