I went to the grocery store to grab a quick salad from their
salad bar at lunchtime on Wednesday, and the store was crowded.
Really crowded.
Like the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day crowded.
Usually when I show up at lunchtime at my local Hy-Vee, it’s
me and two 84-year-olds examining the tomatoes. But this past Wednesday there
were so many people gathered at the grocery store, I thought that they were
giving out free boxes of Cap’n Crunch. Of course, you will recall that
lunchtime on Wednesday was just hours before this year’s version of
“Sno-megeddon” was to strike. And the good Kansans with visions of
“Sno-pocalypse 2013” were stocking up on milk and bread as if the Y2K
predictions were finally about to come true. In fact, judging by the amount of
food in their shopping carts, I think the good shoppers believed the snow would
not melt until Independence Day.
I know I’m a Michigander. As such, I am obligated to write
about my growing up days in the giant Mitten with absolute zero temperatures
and schools only cancelled unless the snowfall reached Sputnik. None of that is
true– except the “my being from Michigan” part. Still, with risk of sounding
snow-snobberish, the brouhaha over this latest snowfall seemed a little silly
to me. (Honesty alert: Upon seeing the crowds at the grocery store, I called
Karla to see if we needed anything before we “hunkered down for the long
winter’s night.” She said we needed bananas and apples. Let it be noted that
the Princes would not face the piles of snow and ice without fruit salad!)
If your house is like mine, you would be able to survive a
night with the groceries that are already in the cupboard. Even if the roads
were unsafe and no one could venture out for a day or two, I doubt that many of
us would have trouble finding something to eat. There’s always an extra can of
pork and beans somewhere—isn’t there?
And yet, my neighbors headed for the grocery store to make
sure their shelves were stuffed just in case. They wanted to be prepared for a
two day (at most) inconvenience. It sounds almost unbiblical that our homes
(because of our inability to traverse icy roads) would become a land where
there is no milk or honey. So we stocked up on the essentials. Mind you−I’m not
throwing stones (or snowballs)− remember I bought apples and bananas “just in
case.” If I could have found the manna aisle, I would have bought a pack of
that too.
Here’s my point: A lot of people were making sure they were
prepared for a two day “snow in.”
Here’s the truth: We are going to spend a whole lot more
than two days time in eternity.
Here’s the question: Are we equally determined to be
prepared for eternity as we were for “Snowquake 2013”?
Unlike the local TV weathermen, I don’t think the world is
going to end tomorrow. And I’m not trying to be Chicken Little. The sky
is not falling− that’s snow. (I told you, I’m from Michigan. We know these
things.) I also know this— all of us one day will have a face to face encounter
with God Almighty. The question on that Day will not be, “Is there coffee and
marmalade in the cupboard?” but rather, “Is Jesus living in your heart?” Paul
said it this way: For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the
things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)
Forget our latest “Snow-Tsunami,” are you prepared for that
Day?
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