Destiny Survival

I had something else scheduled for this space today, but I’m pushing it back to a later time. After some thought and prayer, I’m sharing one of those “heart on my sleeve” posts. So bear with me a little while,if you would.

Last Thursday I let my DestinySurvival Dispatch subscribers know there was no new DestinySurvival Radio show that day. While I was at it, I shared some thoughts about how sudden things catch us off guard. I was in a reflective mood because I had a funeral to go to in the afternoon.

For my family the events of last week were colored by the death of a young lady who was like a little sister to our two children. Mary B. was 18. We’ve known her family since she was a little girl. She was an only child.

A week ago Friday morning she suffered severe head injuries from a one car accident on a rural road. She died the next afternoon from the head trauma. Sadly, that day was my wife’s birthday–one she’ll never forget. If Mary had lived, she would never have been the same sparkling personality we knew and loved, due to the extent of her brain injuries.

When I wrote to my e-mail subscribers, I said, “If prayer is part of your lifestyle, please say a prayer for [Mary's] parents. They need the comfort and strength only God can give.”

Three people took the time to write me to say they were praying for Mary’s parents and even for my family. That’s very touching. I’m grateful and humbled.

In times of need, those of us who call ourselves Christians and know Christ as savior can have a bond like no one else can have. But I digress.

Early in the week, when funeral arrangements were still pending, one of the area radio stations said they’d gotten several calls asking about funeral details. I told my wife I expected a lot of people at Mary’s funeral. But there were more than I could have ever guessed. The small town church held over 200 and was packed. They had to put chairs in the aisles to accommodate everyone.

Each of the speakers said Mary was full of energy and always had a smile. She had her quirks, too. She was a big Bugs Bunny fan. Christmas music was for any time of year. She didn’t like pizza. But she put ketchup on ice cream.

Another revelation came as a pleasant surprise. Though Mary received Christ at an early age, I didn’t know about the godly influence she had on others. I saw her as self assured, spunky and unpredictable.

Her youth pastor said she always had a list of prayer requests at youth meetings. At a meeting just days before her death, when he asked if she had prayer requests, she said she had none. Everything on her list had been checked off.

How amazing is that!

I hope a number of those at the funeral will continue to show love and support for her parents. Life goes on without her, of course. I saw her dad for a while last evening, and he seemed to be doing well. But things are much different now.

If your doctor told you today that you have cancer, that would be hard to take, wouldn’t it? But you’d likely have time to soak it in and adjust to a new reality. You’d make plans.

It’s those sudden things in life we can’t plan for that have the most devastating impact. You know the kind of things I’m talking about.

Things like Mary’s car crash.

Two children and a woman electricuted in separate accidents at the Lake of the Ozarks in the past week.

An 18-year-old boy who drowned the other day in the Missouri River.

Homes destroyed in minutes by fires in Colorado.

Powerful storms that knocked out electricity for millions who suffered in the heat for days on end in the eastern U.S.

You can fill in the blanks with more life changing sudden events, I’m sure. Sometimes the consequences are temporary and we bounce back relatively soon. Other times the consequences are permanent.

Like death, which leaves such a gaping vacuum.

James Talmage Stevens, aka Doctor Prepper, has talked about such things many times. These kinds of events aren’t the end of the world for everyone. But for those of us immediately affected, it’s the end of the world as we’ve known it.

The challenge is to adapt to the new normal.

I truly hope you’re well stocked with prepping supplies to cope with natural disasters and hard times. But even more important, how well prepared are you for those jarring sudden things?

How prepared are you psychologically and spiritually? Do you have a support network of friends and family you can count on? Are you a key part of someone else’s support network?

Those of us who survive sudden things have to live with one another in the aftermath.

When Riverwalker was on DestinySurvival Radio back in March, he pointed out that we need to make the most of the relationships we have now. Find out who you can trust, if you don’t already know. Cultivate those relationships.

We’re not going to make it through calamity alone.

It’s the sudden things that change things in a very personal way–in this present life–and beyond. You and I can’t know when something sudden–like our own death–will come upon us. So I leave you to ponder one of the most sovering questions of all.

Are you prepared to face eternity?