As I write, Hurricane Joaquin is churning away out in the Atlantic, southeast of here. The predictions of what is going to happen are less than exact. Here is a map of possible tracks the Hurricane could take, from
 earlier this week. I just heard a news report on the storm that included the word "likely" many times. Apparently the latest projection indicates that the storm will stay out in the ocean.
In spite of the uncertainty, massive preparations have been made for Joaquin's consequences. Huge machines have been piling up sand berms in New York and New Jersey, some friends of ours moved disaster relief equipment to a strategic location, football games were rescheduled and played early, and, of course, parking lots were jammed as folk stocked up on bread and milk. I even charged my cellphone in anticipation of a possible power outage. I'm resting now from my preparations.
Keeping in mind what could happen, and the fact that by the time we know for sure what will happen it's too late to do anything about it, prudent foresight is wise.
The Bible, almost universal religious instinct, and the restlessness in our own hearts warns that there is something on the other side of death. We should be prepared. I've done a lot in the past couple of years to stave off the effects of aging, and delay the appointment that I most certainly have with death. Just an hour ago I took my cholesterol med. To live as if I am going to live forever in the state in which I now exist, is foolish, perhaps arrogant.
In more than four decades of pastoring, I've done quite a few funerals. I make it a practice to ask the family if there is any particular scripture they want me to include in the funeral service. The two most often given answers are "The twenty-third Psalm," and "That passage about their being a time for everything." I've always figured that folk were thinking more of the Byrds than Solomon. The Sixties rock band was making a plea for peace. Solomon was observing that nothing in this life really satisfies. Even the Byrd's version includes the first, all-encompassing couplet, "A time to be born, and a time to die." The wise king goes on to point out,
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
(Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Far from being something we can be all mellow about, the Bible's philosopher's view of the times leads to a troubling conclusion. It is part of the reason that he finds life to be "vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecc. 1:14). It supports the final conclusion of the book. "Fear God, and keep His commandments" (12:13).
Death is coming. That is sure. There is something beyond. The evidence is strong. It is wise to be prepared.
It's STTA.
You'll find some guidelines for preparation here. | 
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