Preparing for the Storm

As a Snow Storm Threatens the Mid-Atlantic, Pastor Brad Encourages You to be Prepared

This week, we are bracing for a major winter storm. Depending on which forecast you check, we’re either getting a respectable few inches or we’re about to be buried until spring, emerging sometime around Easter like confused groundhogs. One moment, the weather map is calm and blue; the next, it’s flashing red, like the apocalypse is scheduled for Saturday night. Doom and gloom… followed immediately by, “But really, it could all miss us.”

There is a pretty strong consensus that this storm will be a significant event. The question is, “How significant?” Proactively, my church is prerecording Sunday’s service and will livestream it on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m., so our members can sit in their PJs with a cup of coffee and enjoy the service during the snowstorm. And if the forecast is wrong, CrossWay will open for services on Sunday morning. Either way, we are having church (online or onsite)! If your church is closed, feel free to join our live stream at mycrossway.org.

Despite the confusing forecast, something interesting happens every time: grocery store parking lots fill up, items on shelves sell out, and people buy eggs like the chickens are about to go on strike. And everyone fills up on gas…just in case.

Yesterday, I stopped by Martin’s to grab a few things and noticed the flurry of activity. Carts were full, lines were exceptionally long, and people were determined to be ready. People were getting ready for the storm, just in case. Oh, and they were grabbing enough toilet paper to last them until the fall.

In situations like this, I do what most introverts do – I people-watch. As I watched, I was struck by a deeper truth: we are remarkably good at preparing for physical storms… and remarkably poor at preparing for spiritual ones.

You know the storms I’m talking about. They don’t arrive with thunderclaps or flashing warnings. They begin quietly with a check in your spirit and an uneasiness that something isn’t right. You can sense the clouds gathering even when the sky looks clear.

It’s that moment when discernment taps us on the shoulder, and the Holy Spirit alerts the heart (even before the mind). It’s time to prepare for the gathering storm. Scripture defines it as being awake, sober-minded, and watchful. Yet too often, we ignore that inner nudge, dismissing it as an overreaction, until the storm arrives.

The world adjusts schedules, cancels plans, and stocks up at the mere possibility of snow, yet we routinely dismiss the Holy Spirit’s warnings. He may alert us regarding a sin we’re entertaining, a caution about a plan we are making, or something in our lives that is grieving the Spirit. Add to that list the clear, converging signs Scripture gives us about the days leading up to the return of Christ.

Jesus said it plainly: “You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Luke 12:56, ESV).

In Luke 3, we learned that John the Baptist cried out: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight” (Luke 3:4). John wasn’t predicting the weather, or offering speculation or sensationalism. He was calling people to prepare their hearts through repentance, humility, and lives that bore genuine spiritual fruit. He knew the prophets, he knew his purpose, and he knew the Messiah was about to appear. His call is still relevant to our lives.

This Sunday, as we continue in Luke with the baptism of Jesus, we are reminded that Christ’s arrival was not subtle. Heaven opened, the Spirit descended, and the Father spoke. God made it unmistakably clear that something momentous was happening.

We live in a time marked by deception, moral confusion, growing hostility toward truth, and spiritual apathy. This is exactly what the Bible said would characterize the last days. Yet woven through every warning is a deep, steady encouragement for God’s people:

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

“When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

I am amazed at the people who want to dismiss a healthy and balanced focus on Bible prophecy, when Scripture is replete with passages exhorting the saints to be awake and aware of the signs of the times. This isn’t a call to panic, but to be prepared in our hearts, our homes, and our churches.

But how do we prepare? We prepare our hearts by walking in repentance and obedience. We ask ourselves, are we grounded in God’s Word, or drifting with the culture? Are we spiritually alert, or spiritually numb?

We prepare our homes by building and maintaining a household of faith. Are our households shaped by prayer and Scripture? Are we discipling our children, guarding what we allow into our homes, and intentionally honoring Christ under our roof?

Isaiah told King Hezekiah, “Get your house in order” (Isaiah 38:1). This wasn’t a call to run to the grocery store and stock up on enough food to feed a battalion of Marines. Nor was it a call to clean the baseboards. It was an exhortation to maintain a rightness with God in light of our frailty.

Just as we prepare wisely for a winter storm by making plans, checking supplies, and caring for one another, we must prepare spiritually for what lies ahead. Not with fear and anxiety, but with faith and assurance. Because in the end, the storm does not have the final word. Jesus does.