The Fireside

Recently, we had a major snow storm in Stinkwater. Our county in particular does not have a great infrastructure, and when it gets windy, or rains, or snows, we generally have power outages. Since these weather conditions occur frequently, we have frequent power outages.

Most of the residents who have been around for a while realize this, and prepare. We have woodstoves, and piles of wood in the garage, on our decks, and/or in the backyard. We have food stored up that will last us through a bad storm. Some of us have generators that will at least give us light for a few hours if we need it. We use propane as well as electricity to hedge our dependence on the electric company.

Now, however, Stinkwater is composed of people from elsewhere who have no history and no comprehension of preparedness. Fifty-eight percent of the homeowners in the county have primary residences somewhere else. My neighborhood has had a building boom in the last five years which has tripled the number of homes, and the cost of those homes. Most of those people have been there less than 5 years, and have moved from warm climates, from big cities in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

What happened during this recent storm?

I wasn't at home. I'm still out of town for a few more weeks, working this nursing contract. The morning after the storm and power failure, I get a message on my voicemail from a neighbor up the street saying that they were cold, and were going to go over to my house to get some of my wood. Hmmm... I called her the next morning, and yes, she had sent her son over to get some of my wood. I couldn't believe anyone could possibly not have ANY wood available for emergencies like this. She just said, "Well, we just never got around to getting any." What? That is a necessity if you want to live here!

Not only that, but her son is a very troubled young man who has been arrested for burning down building in the area. I was not exactly thrilled that he had been sent to my home alone, by his mother, to help himself to some of my wood. What message does that send to an already confused boy? "If you need something and someone else has plenty, it's OK if you go and take what they have, since they probably wouldn't mind."

Later that day, the older people who are watching my house, told me that my gate had been left open, and with the continuing snow, they couldn't get it closed.

I called my neighbor back, and informed her that her son had left my gate open. Her response? "Oh, yeah, I noticed that when I drove by!" I asked, "Were you planning to go and dig out the snow so that the gate can be shut and latched, as it was prior to your son going over there?" She seemed shocked that I would ask such a thing. She said that she was really busy right now looking for cat food for her daughter's cat. I asked her to please make sure that the gate was dug out, and then shut and latched, since more snow was coming and it would be much easier to dig it out now than with another 2 feet on the ground the next day." She said she would try.

Later, she called and left a message that she had gone to shut the gate. It was now closed and latched, and she had put some of the wood back. "Thanks, anyway," she said, "but your wood was mostly too wet to burn so I put it back. We got power back on an hour after we went to get the wood anyway." Hello! Yes, wood in the backyard is generally wet during a big storm cycle like this one. That's why we keep some in the garage and in the house and cycle the wet wood inside to dry out as the older wood burns and heats up the house.

Is this not common sense?

I could not help but think of Jesus' parable of the 10 virgins. While I realize the message of the parable was not about earthly preparedness, but to be prepared for the Son of God, the Bridegroom, to return. Yet, those five foolish virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom without any oil for their lamps. Did they not really believe He was going to come, and that this was just a drill? Did they think that they could depend upon the preparedness of others in case He did, taking from others what they themselves would need?

His coming was promised and was sure to happen. We too have the same promise, and it is sure to happen, just like snow and power failures in Stinkwater. We just don't know exactly when.

Our preparedness for snow and cold is something we can do (or choose not to do), and from which we benefit when the event occurs (or suffer if we have not prepared).

Yet, our preparedness for the Bridegroom is something we cannot really do. Thanks be to God that the Bridegroom Himself prepares us, gives us the "oil" we need, which is our faith in Him, through our baptisms and through hearing the Word and partaking of the Sacrament of Holy Communion on a regular basis.

Let us all be "ready" when that time comes.