Be Prepared

This morning when I got up, I turned on the television only to find that an earthquake had hit the country of Chile. Although it was a 8.8 on the Richter scale, it did not do as much damage as the one in Haiti. But, still it was a devastating event for those involved.

I have been watching this all day, waiting to see the damage that might be done to Hawaii with the tsunami. Seems as though they escaped without any damage. But it still may hit other places on the Pacific coast of the US and also Japan. There could yet be major damage from this earthquake and tsunami.

There was no way the people of Chile could have been prepared for this earthquake considering it happened in the middle of the night. It caught them all off guard. But the people of Hawaii knew the tsunami may hit them, so they made sure they had the necessary things to carry them through. And they were warned far enough ahead in order to move to higher ground.

The Bible tells us to be prepared. We never know when our time will come to leave this world. We also do not know the day nor hour of the Lord's return. The Bible tells us that those endure until the end will be saved. We need to hold on to His Word and be watching for His return every day.

What do you consider RICH?

Each of us has his/her own concept of rich. And I am probably correct in saying that most of us consider ourselves rich when we have great material wealth in this world. And that would leave lots of us out of the category of 'rich'. At least, it would me.

What does rich mean to you? Is it the attaining of a big bank account? Or, does it lie in that big home and beautiful furniture you now own? Does it mean that your family has blessed you beyond measure with happiness? Or perhaps it means your life - that you are alive today and that exemplifies 'rich'?

Any of the above may make you feel rich. But I love to think I am rich simply because I know God lives within me and that He is the reason I know where I will spend eternity. Being rich materially may satisfy us for awhile, but there is always a longing for 'more'.. we never seem to get enough of material things. But, with God who is the beginning and the end, the great I AM, we have assurance that there is an afterlife and we will be spending it with Him. I had rather be a rich man with God in my life than be a millionaire. In fact, I consider myself a millionaire in God! His blessings mean more than any earthly material thing could ever mean.

Proverbs 10:22, "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it."

Looking ahead

Most people on the Internet use MySpace, Facebook, or a number of other online sites to keep in contact with friends. We share our lives online!

Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if one or all of these sites shut down? Would you continue to converse with these friends, either in email or over the phone? How many of them would you quickly lose contact with?



This morning, I opened my computer and tried getting into Facebook. Only Facebook says my account is unavailable for maintenance and will not be available for probably a few hours. What did we do before Facebook, MySpace, or the other sites? We have gotten so hung up on these means of staying in touch or playing games that it is really upsetting when we lose the ability to get into these sites.

But, have you ever imagined that the Internet altogether had shut down and you weren't able to do anything online? What would you do? Can you remember what held your interest when you did not even have Internet access? We've had Internet since it became the way to communicate. Of course, there was no Facebook or MySpace back then. We communicated with people on forums, not necessarily our friends, but acquaintances we came to know through the computer. Even today, I still communicate with some of those people from way back then. But, also today, I have friends I've met through other means on the Internet, and I've met a few of those. But, better still, I can keep in touch with some through their web sites or blogs and through email.

Another thing I think about is the emails we write versus snail mail. I used to be an avid writer, keeping in touch with lots of people through regular mail. It has been so long since I actually wrote a letter and sent it through the email. The closest that I come to doing that is through Christmas or birthday cards! No doubt my penmanship has suffered! But surely my fingers have gotten stronger by exercising them daily on this laptop!

There has been talk of a charge to use the Internet. Would you be online if they start charging for using the Internet? With the economy like it is and my being a senior citizen, I suppose I'd have to decline. I sure would miss the Internet and the many things I have gotten used to here, but if it meant the difference in eating or playing, I'd have to take eating. My body needs more energy than my mind! I suppose then I could start to remembering the 'good ole' times'! What about you?

Technorati Tags: Internet, Facebook, MySpace, Laptop, Computer