Our Bags are Packed!

At 9pm tonight it was warm outside, the sky was flickering with a magical show of cloud to cloud lightning and I was running through the house gathering up our 72hr kits. By 9:15 my car was loaded and my friend was on alert that we might be headed her way, to take have a tornado party in her basement. Last night we had thunder, lightning, and rain storm that lasted for hours and this afternoon most of Eastern WI was in a tornado warning. Kind of a nerve racking situation for a girl from the west coast, a girl whose been prepped from elementary school on what to do in case of an earthquake or tsunami but NOT a tornado. In fact the only real information I have about tornadoes is only what the Wizard of OZ taught me...tornadoes are the means by which wicked witches end up under houses.

It's now 10pm and we are in the clear with the storm now over Lake Michigan and I have time to reflect. And the one thing that keeps coming to mind is that I am thankful. Thankful that we did get hit by it, thankful that those who did get hit didn't get hurt, and mostly thankful to be prepared.

Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, for years, has counseled us to be prepared. We are encouraged to put together 72hr kits, have a year supply of food and water, and a financial reserve. Growing up I imagined using these resources in an apocalyptic setting, like something out of a movie and that was the only scenario I foresaw us using them in. However, the older I get the more I have been able to see the many more common situations where these reserve would come in more than handy. Growing up on the Coast our city water was vulnerable to the ocean backing up far enough to make the city water salty and unfit to drink. Thankfully my Mom and Dad took the church leaders counsel seriously and we were able to use our water storage until the city water cleared up. And just last month, my hometown was hit by the tsunami from the earthquake in Japan. When the tsunami warning sirens went off my 80-something grandma threw her 72hr kit in her car and away she went to gather with others to the designated "safe zone." Lastly, with the possibility of the government shutdown this week and the possibility of Ryan only receiving half of his pay next month I was very relieved to know we had food storage we could rely on. And tonight I am again thankful that we had our 72hr kits all prepared just in case we needed them for a "tornado party." How grateful I am that Heavenly Father has given us a prophet on the earth today who receives modern day revelation and by heeding those revelations we can be prepared...no matter what.

If you would like to know more on how to prepare a 72hr kit, food storage, or financial reserves visit http://www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,8033-1,00.html