What would you put in your survival kit? What do you put in your survival kit?
On our recent trip to Yosemite National Park, we saw four backpackers (two father-daughter pairs) who had just spent a week on part of the John Muir Trail. They had everything for a week in their packs - including all the trash they generated over the week. Seeing their packs drove home to me how exacting backpackers need to be with what they bring: calculating dimensions and weight plus accounting for all the contingencies along the way.
Because bears.
I’ve never been backpacking. And I really wasn’t that into camping before moving to the West where there’s just so much beautiful, outdoorsy, natural wonder everywhere.
(You know you’re raising your kids among a lot of national parks when they go to Lake Tahoe and are surprised that it’s not also a national park. “But it’s such a big and beautiful place,” they insist. Indeed.)
Speaking of California, part of living with the possibility of earthquakes is setting up your emergency earthquake kit. I had no idea this was a thing. Growing up in Tornado Alley, we were just prepared to go to the basement when the sirens went off, maybe take a flashlight and a battery radio with you when you go. But, there wasn’t going to be much time to prep much else.
For earthquakes, there also isn’t any warning. But the aftermath, could be a lot worse with the potential of power grids and gas mains affected. Do you know where your house’s gas-shut off is? Because that’s a thing you need to know in SoCal. If a tornado is bad enough, you just don’t have a house afterwards, but likely the damage is pretty localized, instead of widespread.
Boy, this got dark quickly.
My point is: what do you put in your go bag? What comes in your pack? What do you take with you?
I just preached this past Sunday on this time Jesus sends his disciples out without anything with them except a walking stick. I’ve seen many hikers use those walking poles, especially if they’re going long-distances each day. But, the fact that the disciples take nothing else seems just downright irresponsible. I mean they don’t even take food with them – or money. They’re just supposed to ask for it, I guess, and rely on the culture of hospitality to take care of them.
If there’s a really major earthquake, you bet I’ll be relying on people around me to get by. But Jesus sending them out this way on purpose is so jarring to me. I get that it was a different culture, and people really would invite them in and host them for days at a time. Especially if they were traveling preachers and healers.
Being prepared is an armor I use
It makes me think that being prepared is an armor I use, that if I feel prepared, I can withstand whatever comes my way. If I start worrying about something, just prepare for it and I’ll feel inoculated against the worst of how things could turn out. Then I’ll be ready for life’s vicissitudes.
Guess what, there are always going to be vicissitudes I’m unprepared for. And maybe it’s ok to practice being unprepared for a change, to see what happens if I go somewhere without my phone, for example. Or get lost and ask for directions.
When I did campus ministry, I took a group for a week of service with DOOR Hollywood. They ran a program directing young people on a spiritual growth journey through service. Instead of preparing dinner one night, they sent the college students out into LA without money to figure out dinner on their own. Some people asked strangers directly, some got dirty looks, some started singing and put a hat out for donations. Someone else went to a cash only place and just looked pathetic until another customer took pity on them and bought their dinner.
We felt so vulnerable putting ourselves out there to rely on others for our food. Not everyone had a great meal; some of us were still pretty hungry.
And I suppose that’s a practice I need every now and then – to feel the tenuousness of uncertainty and of being unprepared. And to metabolize the changes that come my way.
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~What I’m reading~
Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
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I think I'm being brave when I acknowledge a stranger on the street with a smile or kind word. Seeking help from a stranger to feed myself would be a completely unfamiliar experience. Thank you for sharing such a bold approach to gaining empathy.