We see a man buried in death, but not just any death (Matt. 27:57–60). A death that he was born to die, a death, we might say, he was preparing for his whole life (John 14:29). In short, we see a man who lived and died and lived again, a man who shows the only way to be prepared for what we can never avoid.
The tragic events that happen around the globe are more frequent than we realize. A few years ago a gas line explosion nearly four miles down the road from my house breathed fire into the air and illuminated the sky so much that people from several nearby counties could see the flames clearly. The flames were even picked up by satellite imaging. The initial reaction from the residents was that the Lord has returned, and this is the end. The explosion left some without homes and another person without their life.
On December 10, a weather system developed and caused a string of tornadoes to touch down and leave their mark across the Midwest. Within this system was a historical cyclone that stayed on the ground for a record-breaking 220 miles. Though it stretched across four states in the darkness of night, it was the small town of Mayfield, located in the western part of my home state of Kentucky, which fell prey to the irrepressible tornado at the peak of its wrath. This community was leveled and left in post-apocalyptic debris that would cause even the coldest of hearts to soften for a moment of reflection and awe.
Though we know tragedies like these come to other parts of the world, it does not change the fact that fear and pain still come to our door in one way or another as products of suffering. We’ll suffer in this life, whether from a more notable event like a natural disaster that levels your home, the loss of precious life at the hands of a newsworthy accident, or something less dramatic and more common like the pain of severed relationships.
And here’s the kicker that keeps plaguing my mind in recent days: it would seem that no level of preparedness can be taken against suffering except to know suffering will come. It seems like all that one can do is lower the blow suffering delivers to victims.
With that being said, I want you to know that I think being prepared is wise. Finding ways to prepare yourself for moments in life can be a matter of life or death in several situations. As the strong winds approached my house on December 11, I was thankful for the times I practiced tornado drills with my five kids who are all under eight years old. The winds from the tornado crumpled the trampoline in our backyard like you and I might crumple a ball of twisty ties.
But even as we see the benefits of being prepared, we need to also see its futility. We could start collecting packages of water and emergency rations in the event of food supply shortages, but what do we do when the rations run out? We could buy every solar panel on earth for sustainable energy, but what do we do when the panels stop working? We could build a safe house, but what do we do when people find out about it?