What A Record-Breaking Tornado in My State Taught Me About Being Prepared for Death

What A Record-Breaking Tornado in My State Taught Me About Being Prepared for Death

Though we know tragedies like these come to other parts of the world, it does not change the fact that fear and pain still come to our door in one way or another as products of suffering. We’ll suffer in this life, whether from a more notable event like a natural disaster that levels your home, the loss of precious life at the hands of a newsworthy accident, or something less dramatic and more common like the pain of severed relationships.

And here’s the kicker that keeps plaguing my mind in recent days: it would seem that no level of preparedness can be taken against suffering except to know suffering will come. It seems like all that one can do is lower the blow suffering delivers to victims.

With that being said, I want you to know that I think being prepared is wise. Finding ways to prepare yourself for moments in life can be a matter of life or death in several situations. As the strong winds approached my house on December 11, I was thankful for the times I practiced tornado drills with my five kids who are all under eight years old. The winds from the tornado crumpled the trampoline in our backyard like you and I might crumple a ball of twisty ties.

But even as we see the benefits of being prepared, we need to also see its futility. We could start collecting packages of water and emergency rations in the event of food supply shortages, but what do we do when the rations run out? We could buy every solar panel on earth for sustainable energy, but what do we do when the panels stop working? We could build a safe house, but what do we do when people find out about it?

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