Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Preparation for Crisis (10) - Appropriate Response

The impact of any economic crisis will vary from region to region and country to country. The preparation that is appropriate for the current crisis will vary according to where people living.

  1. In many countries the current economic crisis will manifest in high levels of unemployment. The main challenge will be transferring income from those with plenty to those under pressure.
  2. In other countries, business trade will be disrupted. Assisting the flow of food from country to the city might be important. The methods described above will work effectively.
  3. In some regions the economy and its infrastructure might totally collapse. This has happened in Zimbabwe (see substistance and secret). The supermarket shelves are empty, so no one has food, even the rich are hungry. In this environment, skills like baking bread and growing food will be really important. Sharing will be essential for survival.
  4. A few places, society may collapse into total chaos. These situations call for a different level of preparation. I will deal with preparation for living in a collapsing society in another series of posts. A collapsing society could become a dangerous place for Christians to be living.
The problem for those trying to prepare is that none of us no how bad things will get in our city or region. The wisest option is to be conservative and prepare for the worst. If the worst does not happen, we will not have lost anything. We will be able to assist those who have not prepared. Jesus parable of the ten virgins should guide our preparation.
At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps…. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps (Matt 25:1-4).
This full series on preparation for crisis is here .

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