Grace Notes: Becoming a true prepper

There is a whole industry today built around people’s anxiety to be prepared in the event of a catastrophic disaster, both natural and man-made. How would you survive if there was a nuclear war, if there was an asteroid hit, or if the grid was completely knocked out?

It’s the dilemma of Lazarus. Jesus raised him from the dead at his sisters' pleading. But his reprieve from death was temporary. He eventually had to be prepared to die again. You can bet, though, that the time between his first death and second death served to detach him even more from this present life so that he was fully ready when it came time to die again.

You start thinking about these things when you assess the real-time threats we face. It is true that we are called to read the signs of the time and be responsibly prepared. But our goal has to be more than saving ourselves and our life here. Jesus warns us that seeking to save ourselves alone is a futile exercise.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?”  Mt 16: 25-26

 In other words, we can’t save ourselves. But if we give ourselves to Jesus, he can. Only Jesus has the necessary ransom.

Jesus also reminds us that, practically speaking, the father knows what we need and providentially provides for us unless we reject his help. Yes, he expects us to do our part, but at the same time, we understand that not a detail about us and our needs is overlooked by the Lord.

Instead, the Lord wants us to focus on the better part that Mary recognized before Martha did. That would be listening to and following the master himself instead of trying to “manage” everything on our own. 

To be a real prepper means you are prepping not just for time but, more importantly, for eternity. Yes, we are responsible stewards of the gifts we have here. But the eternal gifts we seek are in the care of Jesus, whom we must follow. Be aware that it’s the spiritual treasures we seek to store up and the earthly treasures we let go of in order to carry the cross.

One measure of preparation can be found by looking at your relationships. Would you feel at peace and happy with all your current relationships if God suddenly called you?

Would you be prepared to see people in heaven you may consider enemies at the moment? This is critical. We are not forgiven unless we forgive. If we have any unforgiveness in us, then we are not ready. We need to do some real prepping.

A friend who was struggling in a marriage had a dream she died along with her husband. They both ended up in two different lines, one obviously headed into heaven and the other not. She said she couldn’t believe her husband ended up in the “saved” line while she did not.

Her immediate reaction was: How did he end up in “that” line? Her perspective in eternity was not the same. Nor will our perspective be the same at the end of our lives.

Imagine being on a plane that suddenly starts to go down. Everyone believes they have minutes, maybe seconds, to live. What would be important to you in that moment? All your belongings and possessions? Your relationships? Your spiritual state?

One of our priests related such an incident. He was on a plane struck by lightning, and the plane began a dive, which, fortunately, the pilot was able to pull out of. But in the moment when everyone thought they were about to die, he said he sprang into action. Not being able to imagine what that meant, his audience asked him: “What did you do?”  His answer, “I gave everyone general absolution!”  That’s a true “prepper!”

Time is a sort of dress rehearsal for eternity. We work to get things right in time so that we can live them in eternity. If we’re prepping for the here and now, we’re thinking short-term only. And unless we learn to prep for eternal life, none of the other prep will matter.