I’m growing tired of material ‘stuff’ and having to depend on businesses (i.e. grocery stores, Wal-Mart, electric companies, department stores) for my survival. Whatever happened to the days of fending for yourself? Personally I would much rather live rugged in the wild—hunting my own food, building my own ‘stuff’ and living a Bear Grylls kind of life…maybe someday. Call me crazy, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately of post-apocalyptic living. If something drastic were to happen tomorrow, causing all electricity to go out, what would the world be like? What would I look like? Looting would begin, fighting would ensue, and chaos would invade our lives of comfort. Where would I be? Honestly, I’m not prepared at all for survival, and I don’t believe most of us are.
We’ve grown so secure and comfortable in simply getting in the car, driving 15 minutes to pick up food we didn’t have to grow, harvest, or feed. All we have to do is choose from a gamut of options and simply put it in our cart. The only work involved is carrying the grocery bags to the car and into our houses. We don’t have to worry. Everything is at our fingertips. But what if that changed? What if we had to fend for ourselves?
Some would give up and starve in hopelessness. Others would give in to the carnal flesh, fighting others for the resources in stores that would quickly deplete. There would be fewer and fewer still who would be prepared to survive self-sufficiently. They are the ones that tend to live much longer and lead others to survival. But what would happen in a time of relational, emotional, or spiritual apocalypse?
We choose the easy way so often. My generation (Millennials), especially, is looking for a quick and easy fix to any problem. We’ve grown up in a point-and-click society. We’re easily bored and constantly need stimulation (thanks smartphones!). Instead of training and preparing for the deep, trench-like valleys of life, we coast on the easy and quick—leaving most of us in the categories of hopeless and dying or fighting looters in a personal “apocalypse”.
As with survival in a post-apocalyptic world, training and knowledge are tools absolutely necessary in a personal devastation. I’m no guru when it comes to survival skills (hence the growing list of survival skills books on my Amazon wish list), but I would speculate one of the first things you would do is take an inventory of what you have and make note of the essentials you need. Then from that, you plan out a strategy for obtaining the missing essentials, hunting, where you’re going to stay, what weapons you need, and so on.
In times of prosperity we need to live vigilantly for those times of hardship. When I lost my job over a year ago I had become comfortable and dependent on too many things outside of God. So when the devastation of losing financial security and direction happened, I was a reactive bloke and not a prepared survivalist. I teetered on the hopelessness and old patterns of wanting to feed the carnal flesh. In that time I realized I had lost focus and wasn’t prepared for devastation.
Life is filled with mountains and the lowest of the low valleys. We must embrace that life isn’t going to be easy all the time. As I wrote about recently, we need a heart that’s desperate for God, His righteousness, and strength. We become prepared survivalists when we train through the word, living each moment in the presence of God, pursuing Him and depending on Him ultimately. When those times of personal crisis come up, you’ll be prepared and equipped. Come to those times with a plan of action and not a reactive laziness. The good thing for us is that even though we plan for and are proactive in times of suffering, we don’t survive on our own. We’ve got the best survivalist with us who can handle any situation and gives us only that with which we can handle.
Live on survivalists!
Follow Us!