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Our recent community garage sale sent me to my attic to ask myself again "Why do I still have that?" I have always used garage sales to purge stuff I no longer need.
This year I saw something in the corner of my attic that I put together some 30 years ago. It was my Mal-Pak survival kit. Around 1982 we were led to believe the end of our country was near. There was going to be an inevitable collapse of everything. The best plan was to head to the wilderness and live off the land when (not if) things collapsed. This was before the internet and cell phones. The advice was to become expert at survival techniques, move out to some remote area and fend for yourself if not defend yourself. What's not shown in the picture are my gun and bullets.
It was a scary time, not because of the condition of our country. It was scary because of what we were being told was coming.
The months and years rolled by and so did everyday life. Nothing happened. In fact our country experienced great prosperity and economic growth unlike we have seen since. Meanwhile my Mal Pak collected dust in the attic.
Turns out the best advice would have been to invest in America and buy stocks of little known or smaller companies at the time like Wal Mart, McDonalds, Apple and Microsoft among dozens of others. (Glad I did later.) The more conspiratorial among us could have even hoarded gold and not done too bad.
I feel we are at another turning point in this great country and that good times are ahead. Though some may disagree and say to "head for the hills", I am looking forward to seeing what God will do for us in the next 30 years.
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Very well said Ric Cox.
I have often considered those that lived during the Great Depression. Those generations were flooded with fear that the world was over and the return was going to happen at any moment. A lot like the way we thought in 1978 during the year the hope was the theme.
There is no guarrantee that horriffic events like world wars or depressions will usher in the return. I distinctly remember thinking in the hours the Berlin Wall begin to fall. "Now the Word can really move." Boy, was that naive. There is no guarrantee that this country will exist another generation. Good grief ! Costa Rica and Belize are starting to look real attractive. However if this country falls, there will be no place left to hide.
I don't think it is a question of whether or not we will fall. Hell, it could have already happened and we simply haven't been told. The question is 'how' it will fall. We only have the choice to believe God for His grace and mercy to allow us to survive. After all, God kept the red thread going during some of the darkest times in history. Why would he not see that the things we know somehow survive. It's His Word. To see it through is His business. To believe and live it as long as we live is our business.
I remember it seemed like every week we got a new and improved MAL oak list. I had everything on the list once and was so proud of myself then we got another list that had some weird stuff on it that I had never heard of. I remember also the grief we went into when we didn't have everything on the MAL List. like getting yelled at during lunch for not having Muc Paks (I still don't know what they are) I am a professional climber and a few hers back i spent 100 days camping while climbing in a year. Today my Sponsors make sure i have the absolute finest equipment for what i do (So my clients see it and buy it). I have a backpack (Dana Astralplane) With a wet rib that is big enough to put my wife and two sons in. But according to the MAL List - I'm screwed, (I don't have any magnifying glasses or whistles. I do have a -60F sleeping bag and I know how to make a make a bag of GORP and a peanut Butter sandwich.
You were the smart one Steve. Seriously, most people were preparing and taking precautions. Sometimes I tend to throw caution to the wind. If I recall, lots of empty shelves at the grocery stores. Glad nothing happened. But at least that one was in the news. Some people taught seminars on how to prepare, and charged big $$$ for it.
Well, for Y2K I was standing in line at Costco buying a large power generator... not out of fear, but having been in software development for years I KNEW how many mistakes I'd seen, some had to be in Y2K affected code.
Fortunately I was wrong (but I still have a nice generator). :-)
Ha, ha. Well I wanted to really test the waters so I did the opposite of everything that was recommended. LEt me try to remember
I was on the internet on several connected computers
I was logged in a several online accounts including my bank
I had lights on all over the house
Several TV's on connected to cable tv
I made a cell phone call and used a land line too, I believe I called an airline to look into making a reservation.
Y2k came and went and nothing happened. Nothing! Just as I suspected.
John, I had a New Years party on Y2K. We were already Out. I believe nothing happened because of "said party."
Agreed Steve. Good points. We had to do similar preparations TWI for Y2k but not as drastic as the MalPak thing. We had to attend a preparation teaching (done by TWI) and were encouraged to do all the recommendations. Again, nothing happened...thank God.
Some believed it was because of said preparations by the believers. I just didn't see that. That's a stretch I think.
Whether or not all or part was true, I think the act of being prepared (without fear) was worthwhile. Whether or not I was able to effectively handle this with my Twig Coordinators at the time I don't know.
Perhaps it was a good physical lesson that we can leverage mentally -- being prepared. Much of the world in Acts was under Roman occupation, yet the believers moved God's Word.
Thanks for the insight Ken. I could be wrong, but I feel the whole thing is debatable. If you or anyone else have documentation or a link that might help. No worries.
By the way this whole Mal Pak thing did not frustrate me. I like survival skills and enjoyed the exercise in preparation. It was fun to think through a doomsday scenario. It didn't alarm me much either except when I went to a Way Corps Meeting. I just didn't see anything on the news or media or elsewhere about it so we just kept living and working.
Where were these guys when we needed them: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/
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