"Always Be Prepared!"

Be ready and keep ready, you and all the companies that are assembled around you, and hold yourselves in reserve for them. Ezekiel 38:7

“Always be prepared” were the words of wisdom I heard from my mom almost on a daily basis. I am sure that she learned it as a young child traveling to Washington in a covered wagon from Montana. Or maybe as a young woman with a small child who had to work hand in hand with her husband to hold the family together during the great depression. Or maybe it was when she and my dad pulled up roots and moved to California with no job or apparent future income. Or maybe it was a combination of all those experiences.

As we approached the possibility of snow on Saturday and Sunday last week I could hear her say “Be prepared!” So I began to make plans for how we’d get to church. We needed to shovel snow off the walkways and we needed to be ready to cover any bases that wouldn’t be covered by people who couldn’t make it. I told Rich, “Be prepared, I have no idea what we might end up doing or helping with!”

Driving home on Sunday I said to Rich, “Well, we made it through the storm but, be prepared, we are going to have a very low offering because of the low attendance. A lot of people were not able to make it to church today because of the snow.” Sure enough on Monday I received a call from Diane, our bookkeeper, informing me that our weekend offering was $15,000 under the minimum we need to meet our obligations.

Storms, winds and floods are going to come along and we have to be ready for them. I would like to ask you to help our church “Be prepared”. If there is a reason you can’t make it to church, would you consider putting your check in the mail or dropping it by when the roads get better. Or maybe even becoming a part of our eGiving program so your offering comes to us electronically whether or not the roads are opened. (If you’d like more information about this program, please contact Diane Sibley at 425-702-9750 or diane.sibley@wacathedral.org).

And remember as Pastor Tim said last week, “We will be open for worship regardless of snow, wind, rain, earthquake, tsunami, or WWIII!” Because that is what Jesus has called us to - to be lifting up people, ministering to them when life is at its very toughest.

Pastor Linda Skinner