Earthquakes and srong foundations

I'm speaking at Forest Home this week, and I always enjoy the chance to spend time with Ridge Burns, my friend who directs this ministry. Today, after returning from lunch with Ridge, I was sitting in my room, doing some writing when I felt what I'm pretty certain was an earthquake. It was short. It was small. But it was still an earthquake. Ah, it's good to be back in California.

Earthquakes always remind me the passage in Hebrews, where we're reminded that God will once again shake the earth, so that the things which cannot be shaken might remain. Of course, the writing is cryptic enough that none of us knows exactly what is being spoken of, but it certainly has many applications. Anytime things unfold differently than anticipated, we say we're shaken. Health, finances, relationships. We'd hoped for, or expected things to unfold in this certain way and instead they are unfolding along a completely different path, and suddenly we feel adrift - the future feels uncertain.

The promise given to us is that Christ is the source of security in the midst of shaking. He is really the One thing which can never be shaken, our Rock, as He's named in the Psalms. The shaking today was mild, and the cold I'm fighting this week is a mild kind of shaking. It means I won't go swimming in the morning, and I'll eat less junk. But real shakings rattle things loose, shaking away the superficiality so that we can cling to that which really matters. I wonder if there are any thoughts about how best to prepare one's life for future shakings? Prayer and Bible study, fellowship, simple living, moving to Montana and living in a bunker with a cache of weapons? Maybe we should just pretend that things will alays go on as they are now, buying and selling, building and planting, harvesting and enjoying life? Oh wait, that's been addressed. What's your take on preparing for the shaking yet to come?