Preparedness

"Did you take your umbrella? It looks like rain today."

Has your wife ever sent you out in the morning with one of those? It's her way of saying, "be prepared." As winter rapidly approaches I'm sure the news shows and papers will trot out their annual "how to prepare your house, your car, your yard, your pet, your physical health, etc. for winter" segments. This past few weeks has seen the same with how to prepare for football/tailgate season. Its all about being prepared. Who wants to be the one guy sloshing through the monsoon soaked to the bone cause you forgot an umbrella as you go into work in the morning? Who wants to be the one at the tailgate with a grill, brats, canopy, lawnchairs, frisbee, radio, and friends, only to realize you forgot the charcoal? Ok, so maybe the person parked next to you lets you in under his umbrella and all your tailgating friends love brat-cicles or again, the person parked next to you brought an extra bag of charcoal. Who would you rather be then, the unprepared one or the guy parked next to you (aka, the prepared one)? Yes...we all would rather be prepared. That's why we go to the trouble of making packing lists for trips, having that emergency kit in the trunk of the car, or installing that sump pump battery back-up. So are we prepared to witness?

1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV): "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO GIVE AN ANSWER

ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO GIVE AN ANSWER

Wow is that scary. For many of us, always being prepared to give an answer depends on our ability to always avoid being asked the question! It's easy to be prepared to give an answer when you go out each day purposefully avoiding the potentiallity for such a question. We'll study for an exam, we'll watch the weather each night and dress & accessorize accordingly the next morning, we'll weatherstrip and insulate and pack that emergency road side kit in the trunk, but do we ever bother to be ready with THE ANSWER? We live in a world where that question can and is being asked every day by people desperate for the answer...AND WE HAVE IT! So where is our confidence? Where is our preparedness? Are we ready to breech that home and hearth threshold each morning and go into the world ready to share will all who ask that God loved the world so much he gave his one and only Son so that none of us that believe in Him will ever perish?

Oh we know the truth. We know we are equipped by the Holy Spirit to give THE ANSWER. We know THE ANSWER. We live our lives by THE ANSWER. And yet, for many of us it is just easier to avoid the question than it is to be prepared to GIVE THE ANSWER. Lets get prepared. Lets get ready to go out and seek the seekers! Lets SHARE THE ANSWER. We are not alone. The Word is filled with reluctant messengers called to share THE ANSWER with an angry and disagreeable world. It is our turn. We need to step up and go. Preparing for that rainy day? Look outside...it's pouring!