It’s been a joke for a while, that when a storm is forecast, everyone buys bread and milk. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hurricane or a blizzard, bread and milk are a must have to weather the storm. We live less than a mile from a Food Lion, but did nothing to prepare for Hurricane Helene this week. We were happy to hear that we could work and attend school remotely on Friday, but we really hadn’t been watching the forecasts. We awakened Friday morning to an electrical outage. Good preparation would have been to charge our phones to 100%, charge the laptops and backup phone chargers, and have full tanks of gas in the cars. As I should have learned from Hugo, it’s also a good idea to fill the bathtubs with water - it’s helpful to have water nearby to flush the toilets if the water goes off! Additionally, some battery operated lights because candles all over the house make me a little nervous. Note to self as Isaac and Joyce are brewing in the Atlantic Ocean as I type this. Now is the time to prepare! In Matthew 25, Jesus shares a parable about preparation.
It’s my understanding that each of the ten virgins were hoping they would be chosen by the bridegroom to become his wife. During those days, women did not choose to be single, they needed to have a husband to care for and protect them, so each of the 10 virgins was hoping to become the wife of the bridegroom. They each took an oil-burning lamp to light the way and keep them from waiting in darkness. None of them knew exactly what time he would arrive, but only 5 took additional oil to add to the lamp, if needed. The bridegroom took longer than expected, and the lamps of those who did not bring additional oil went out. They asked those who came prepared to give them some oil, but they refused. Those in need of oil left to go purchase oil and while they were gone the bridegroom arrived. When they returned, the banquet door was closed and locked. They had lost their opportunity by not being prepared. This parable is not about hurricane preparedness. It’s about knowing Jesus now! We know that He is coming back for His people. We know that those who do not know Him will spend eternity in Hades where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. What we do not know is when it will happen. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36) It could be this evening, it could be 5 years from now, or 500 years from now - we do not know. Now is the time for preparation. Psalm 139:23-24 tells us, ”23Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Jesus’s final instruction in Matthew 28:19-20 was as follows: 19"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Amen
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Kimberly G. MasseyI am a wife, a mother, and a 2024 grandmother! I am a Realtor with
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