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Is It Panic or Preparation?

By December 16, 2010Faith, Family, Fear

Yesterday we made a decision to delay our youngest son’s flight home from Chicago until today, because of the threat of bad weather in Nashville. It was a hard call, because he had finished exams, he was ready to be home for Christmas, we miss him dearly, and I’ve already purchased bacon….

Here in Nashville the general talk was that we were on the verge of the next big ice storm. Schools closed early, grocery stores were packed, and games and activities were canceled or postponed. We’ve experienced ice storms in the past where everything was shut down, electricity goes out and motorists are stranded. Our area of the country has had it’s share of disasters in the past few years with floods, tornadoes and ice storms. I called Southwest twice. His flight, the last of the day, was already showing a delay of two hours. The two customer service agents I talked with (who were great BTW) both said the flight was subject to be cancelled and he would be bumped to the next day. They were offering free weather changes until the next day and their advice was to pick a flight after noon today. There were only three seats left on the afternoon flight.

With this information, for fear of losing a flight altogether, I pulled the trigger and decided to delay his trip home until today. As it turned out, the weather predicted never came, his normal flight arrived on schedule, and had I left things as they were he would have slept in his own bed last night.

I felt awful…but…

There is such a fine line between panic and preparation.

On one hand…

  • We want to live by faith and trust God…
  • We realize life is unpredictable…
  • We naturally fear what is unknown…
  • We can have a tendency to overreact…
  • We don’t want to live in panic mode…

On the other hand…

  • We want to be wise and protect the ones we love…
  • We want to learn from experience…
  • We sometimes have limited information…
  • We don’t always have a clear word from God…
  • We want to be prepared….

Yesterday is an easy example, but there are other more complicated issues in our life, where we have to make decisions with limited information, where the answer is uncertain, where fear comes into play, and we can choose to panic or be prepared. In could be in our personal lives, in business, or in the church. It’s almost seems at times like it’s the battle between fear and faith.  Do you ever face that dilemma?

Help me out here. Which did I do yesterday…panic…or prepare? Where is the balance between panic and preparation? How do you distinguish between the two?

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Ron Edmondson

Author Ron Edmondson

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Join the discussion 6 Comments

  • willeymac says:

    You were prepared; I don't have kids, but if I did I would not have them fly home in potentially inclement weather. There is a difference between I don't want my kid to fly home because there "could" be a terrorist attack and all the major weather outlets are talking about a definitive ice storm. There are some realities we take our chances with, and we do so responsibly, and there are some things we don't play around with. (i.e. acts of God and nature)

  • michaelsreid says:

    I dunno Ron…it seems to me that while you may have acted initially out of panic, the fact that you called a couple of times and obtained as much information as you could from credible sources sounds as if you were just trying to make sure that everything went a smoothly as possible I mean we trust God with so many things on a daily basis and don't really even think about it….when we get in our vehicles, board a plane, every time we step out of our homes or lay down to sleep….Panic is acting irrationally without knowing any credible information. Preparation is acting as rationally as possible based on as much information as possible…I believe that is what you did….you were well prepared…ESPECIALLY since you had bought bacon! THAT is above and beyond good prep!

  • JasonWert says:

    I think a part of it comes from where you live and the environment you're in. I grew up in Pennsylvania and spent years living in northern Minnesota and Michigan. Snow and ice do not bother me at all. Yet all of my neighbors in my complex who grew up around Nashville were freaking out over the snow on Sunday/Monday and the chance of ice. I actually felt myself getting a little antsy only because of the fear that was coming out of them.

    So it's entirely possible your cautious feelings came from being in an environment of panic. Plus, I don't know your background to know if you grew up or spent a lot of time in places where this kind of weather is common in the winter and you know the things to look for when it comes to radar images and forecasts. Experience plays a large part in the decision as well.

    Then again, can you really go that wrong with protecting your child?

    • ronedmondson says:

      Good thoughts Jason. It does make a difference where someone is from. Your last question is also helpful. Thanks