Shanna: Yeah. I am a fan of being prepared for catastrophes. I live on the coast, and so we see this every year with the hurricanes, and everything. I think it’s a good idea to have several months’ worth of food stored up for whatever kind of catastrophe may happen. Because, you know, you can’t eat gold, you can’t eat dollar bills, but you can stay alive if you have some on hand—so, food and water, those kinds of things. You’re right, Dan used to say, “My jar of peanut butter is going to be way more valuable than maybe even your bar of gold or pile of dollars if it comes down to it.” So, yeah, don’t go overboard with it, but I think it’s a good idea to be prepared.
Interviewer: Yeah, absolutely. Shanna, it reminds me that a lot of people think, “Okay, I’ve got to prepare for a long time,” in a situation like that. Let’s face it, we’re probably not lasting very long because the end is coming, you know? And I don’t want to, to be honest, I would hate to die of starvation or something slow like that, but in a viewpoint of eternity, that’s not very long.
Bob, I think just like what Shanna said, it’s a good idea to do it in small chunks, you know? You don’t need to go overboard for sure, but it’s a good thing to think about. Definitely. I think you’re on the right track. I think what you have to think through here, brother, is, what might I need in a possible emergency situation? So when I say emergency situation, I’m not saying that there’s a bad storm and your power’s out. I’m saying there’s World War III, it’s the end of the world as we know it, essentially, or it’s coming, at least—a nuclear war, disaster, anarchy. If this is happening, here’s what we have to do.
You do your best, you say, “Okay, I’m trusting that the Lord is protecting me here and that he’s going to bring me safely home, and it might be sooner rather than later,” which means if that’s the case, you might not need to plan for as long as you think you do. Now, I’m not trying to play God here with any of this stuff, but it’s just something to think about.
Here’s some things that I would tell you to have: those tangible items that you were talking about, enough cash on hand to get somewhere. I think that’s actually part of why we mention here on the show to have a small amount of emergency cash at home. That’s what it’s for; it’s for an emergency situation like this. If you need to get to the hospital, you can fill up your gas tank. If gas has gone up to $10 a gallon, for example, you can still fill up your car. That’s actually the second thing I would say is important—a working vehicle. It would be good to have a working vehicle to be able to get somewhere in case you need to flee. Somewhere that is away from the chaos, speaking of which, you may live in an area of the country where you feel like that’s a safe area. Maybe it’s wooded and not near that many people—I’d say that’s great. As a rule of thumb, staying away from major cities would probably be a good idea. I have a buddy from church who has a house out in the sticks, and we have an agreement. I told him if something goes down, I’m coming to your house.
I would also say rations, food that will keep, just like Shanna mentioned—peanut butter, clean water to drink—and this might depend on where you are. You might have a water source; maybe you need a water filter or something like that. I think those could all be good things to consider. And also, I think very importantly, is a way to defend yourself and your family in whatever way you feel most comfortable doing that.
I think outside of those things, Bob, there’s really no need to go overboard with the tangible assets. If you survive that apocalyptic situation, praise God, that’s great. If you don’t, then you’ll meet the Lord if you know him and trust him. That’s why we speak so often about how that’s the most important thing. None of us knows the day that we’ll die, and if something like that were to happen, we need to make sure that our hearts are right, first and foremost, because it could happen at any moment. That’s true all the time but especially true in situations like that. Good question, Bob. I appreciate that.
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