Are you prepared for disaster?

A short while ago, I was visiting my son Jeremy at K-State. It was late in the evening when I said goodbye and left for my hotel room. The weather was mild and pleasant.

As I settled into my room, I heard a tornado whistle. Then, there was a second whistle and then, a third.

By the time I heard the fourth whistle, I was ready to check out and leave Kansas.

Over the years, I had practiced during my Kansas vacation travel to click my red heels and say “Toto, take me home.” I knew that wouldn’t work.

So instead, I phoned the hotel front desk and asked the clerk if she knew what was happening. Her suggestion to me was to turn the TV up to loud, go into the bathroom, and close the door. She also mentioned that Manhattan had not had a tornado or warning “like this in 40 years!”

I phoned Jeremy, and he reported that the college had directed him, his roommates and the entire apartment complex into an underground storm shelter. At that point, I knew this was a serious situation.

I listened to the television in my hotel room, and I could hear the weather reports and the dreaded words “the tornado just touched down in front of the mall.”

Of course, my hotel was across the street from the mall.

Not soon enough, the winds, whistles, and storm subsided. I slowly opened the bathroom door, then the bedroom door, and then the hotel room door.

The street in front of the hotel room looked as if someone had taken all the neighborhood trash cans and thrown them to the wind. What a mess!

Readers, do we know when a catastrophe will happen? Not just a disaster of weather, but any calamity. How prepared are we?

We should always have a basic supply of food and water. We should likewise, have a financial reserve.

If we are laid off work or encounter a huge medical need or accident, we will need an emergency supply.

How I saved and created a reserve for my family of nine was ... one can at a time.

Yes, when I purchased groceries, I would buy at least one extra of something. Whether it was green beans, bottled water, laundry detergent or diapers (I’d hate to go three days without diapers), I’d grow my family storage from one week to the next.

With the reserve, I felt secure and knew that my family could survive under any adversity. A dad can lose his job, medical costs can skyrocket, or a Missouri ice storm can hit, remember?

We can live without cable, the Wii, or even a shower, for a few days. However, we cannot live without food or drinking water.

L. Tom Perry stated it best: “On a daily basis we witness widely fluctuating inflation; wars; interpersonal conflicts; national disasters; variances in weather conditions; innumerable forces of immorality, crime, and violence; attacks and pressures on the family and individuals; technological advances that make occupations obsolete; and so on. The need for preparation is abundantly clear. The great blessing of being prepared gives us freedom from fear, as guaranteed to us by the Lord “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30).