# Riding the Storm Out

Source: https://dairycoach.com/riding-the-storm-out/
Published: 2012-10-31
Author: Tom Wall

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A few months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast, I went down to Mississippi with a couple friends to check it out. As we were driving down Beach Blvd. from Biloxi to Gulf Port, no one in the car said a word. Sure, we saw the damage on the nightly news. But nothing could prepare us for the destruction we saw as we drove along the coastal highway. There was hardly anything left.

Now only seven years later, Hurricane Sandy has devastated the East Coast in a way that most people never imagined possible. Fortunately, most of us have no idea what it’s like to live through a deadly storm or lose everything in a flood or a fire. But as of this week, that’s become the new reality of millions of people up and down the East Coast.

This massive, tragic storm got me thinking… if I were in their situation, what would I do? Sure, it’s easy to watch the storm and its aftermath from a thousand miles away and say that everyone should have followed the evacuation orders and left their homes. But at the same time, I suppose it’s a lot different when it’s actually *your* home and everything *you* own.

So… if God forbid, someday you find yourself in a similar situation as everyone “out East”, how do you think you would you react? Would you stay, or would you go?

Let’s say you choose to heed all the warnings and you leave before the storm hits. What would you take with you?

As I look around my house, I can honestly say there aren’t many things that I’d bother taking with me if I had to leave in a hurry. It turns out that my “must-save list” would be pretty short. Besides my laptop, the only possessions that I think would be on that list are a few irreplaceable, “sentimental things” from family and friends. Everything else… well, it’s just “stuff”. And as it turns out, those *things* are replaceable and really not all that important or valuable.

In all honesty, I kind of find that disturbingly ironic.

Day after day, week after week, we work long hours to make sure we can make our bank payments for all the “stuff” we’ve accumulated. Instead of spending more time investing in the people and the “sentimental moments” that truly matter, we choose to spend our time pursuing stuff that really doesn’t. And then, one day, a life-changing tragedy strikes. And it’s not until then that we put our real priorities in order.

Yeah, I know… it’s easy to say and hard to do. And although most of us would rather spend more time with our family and friends, we all have work to do and deadlines to meet. But somewhere among all the time we spend working, there will come a day that we’ll have to choose what we want to save.

You already know what you want to take with you. What you don’t know is when the storm is going to hit… don’t wait until it does.