Thursday, April 30, 2009

Prudence or paranoia?

The older I get the more, well, "prudent" I get:) Up until recently my only ICE (in case of emergency) supplies was an extra bag of chips. Now I have about a month's worth of food and water. Recently a good fried sent me their family list of ICE supplies and I noticed some holes in mine so I am building mine up a little more.

This is something I think about on a semi-regular basis. When do we just go on faith that everything is in God's hands and when should we be prudent? For instance jumping out of an airplane and relying on God would be a bit foolish in my eyes. But you could also go on the other end and have a stockpile of food for 6+ months and uber-goony guns of a small well funded army. I know people that I think may fall on both ends of the spectrum, especially these days. There are probably more than you think on the gun side. Don't believe me? Try buying some 9mm ammo. You are looking at a 2-3 month wait. So this is not just your Ruby Ridge gun hording people, this might be your neighbor. Part of it might be the fear that our Democratic Congress and/or president might put some old and/or new gun bands in place. But I digress...

Back to the original post. Let's use the H1N1 flu for instance. Yesterday I posted on Facebook "is anyone else nervous/paranoid about the flu." I got responses from God is in charge to load the guns. So I ask (you don't have to actually respond) what is prudent and when does it cross the line to not trusting God. You could stay at home until this passes or go about your life as normal. But wouldn't you feel bad if you did the later and your child became the 2nd or even the one millionth death in the US? So faith or prudence, here are a few examples to mull over....
  • Do you lock your doors?
  • Do you get a flu shot?
  • Do you have regular check ups with the Doctor?
  • If there is an illness at your kid's school would you keep them home?
  • Do you have emergency supplies?
  • Do you have smoke/CO2 detectors in your house? Do you test them monthly?
  • If there was no helmet law would you wear one on a motorcycle/ATV/bicycle?
Sorry about all the questions this early but what can I say.... I don't have many adults to talk to during the day:)

A couple of funny pics from yesterday... William asked for me to take a picture of his elbow to see his owie. Then I heard something during nap time to find Jackson sleeping at the top of the stairs. Never a dull moment:)



I always admired atheists. I think it takes a lot of faith.
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Seoul Mates, 1991

Al

1 comment:

Rachel said...

I think prudence is using your knowledge and the supplies available to you to take care of your family. Paranoia is allowing yourself to be consumed with fear and basing your decisions on fear. Paranoia is sort of a grasping for control. A person who stockpiles supplies for an emergency out of prudence will be willing to listen to God's leading should that emergency arise. If you find that you are thinking only of survival and not willing to put yourself or your family "at risk" for God's purposes (i.e. loving others), then you are letting fear rein. ("At risk" is in quotes because we're really all at risk of all kinds of dangers all of the time.)

Sorry for sermon...sometimes I can't help myself :)