FOREWORD

I have a confession to make. I own a fire extinguisher. There, I said it. And the weird thing about it is this: I have never once had the need to use a fire extinguisher. But I bought one nonetheless, and I'm proud of it. I know what you may be thinking. What kind of a nut would go out and waste his time and money on something that would probably never be needed? Well, let me tell you.

Many years ago, I became a leader in a Christian boys' program called Royal Rangers. In Royal Rangers, the motto of the group is “Ready. Ready for anything!” For those who were Boy Scouts, you probably recognize how similar it is to the Boy Scout motto: “Be Prepared.”

When I became a husband, and later a father, the concept of “Ready” took on an added significance. You see, I am no longer responsible for just me. Today, I have been entrusted by God to care and support a family as well. I admit that I'm completely ready to experience GOOD times in life. But readiness also means being prepared for the BAD times, as well as the good. And so I own a fire extinguisher. And a smoke detector. And home and auto insurance too. Yes, I may be a nut. But I'm prepared. And I suspect that if “prepared” is the standard of whether you're nuts or not, many of you might be a little nuts too.

Unlike many others, however, I have taken the idea of preparation a little further. You see, I think that it is a good idea to prepare for problems that hit our whole society, as well. We live in perilous times, with global instability and division. So why would I prepare for smaller problems (like burning down our house) and not prepare for larger problems (like burning down our nation)? In a time of global terror and worldwide catastrophes, why is one level of preparation considered a prudent and wise action – and another level seen as crazy and alarmist?

Throughout history, the world has seen the rise and fall of many great superpower nations – the Persians, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Spanish, and English. Today, America is the predominant superpower of the world, and we are HATED for that by numerous groups – most notably Islamic terrorist groups. Whole nations would LOVE to see America collapse, just like the Persians and the Romans before us. Yet the world has never seen the collapse of a nation that’s as completely unprepared for difficult times as America is today. How do we deal with the collapse of our power system? How do we deal with food shortages? What about the utter collapse of our money system, as has happened in pre-WWII Germany and in modern-day Zimbabwe?

Many feel that it is the government's job to fix these problems. But governments are not geared toward such actions – as we all saw after Hurricane Katrina. Further, I do not think it is wise to rely solely on some nameless, faceless office worker... at some government office complex... somewhere. That is NOT being prepared!

As a society, we have lost our independence and self-reliance. We no longer stand on our own feet. Instead, we have traded the strength of our own God-given wisdom and ability for the soft promise of “help” and “entitlements” from a government system that has shown its incompetence time and time again. Well, personally, I am on a mission to reclaim my self-reliance and my ability to survive anything. The reason is simple. My family - and my community - is worth it!

The story is told of DL Moody, a great Christian evangelist, holding a large rally in the mid 1800's. Like Billy Graham a hundred years later, DL Moody would speak to countless thousands about the judgment and forgiveness of Jesus. At one of his meetings, he was approached by an upset woman who confronted him. Her statement was blunt and direct. “I don’t like your method of evangelism!” she declared. Moody humbly responded, “I’m not always fond of it myself. What method do you use?” Shocked, she mumbled, “Oh... I don’t have a method.” Moody's response was equally blunt and direct. “Well I certainly like MY method better than YOURS!”

You may not like the plans described in this book. But do you have another plan? Have you even thought about it? This book is an attempt to formulate a game plan for the unthinkable. By no means is it perfect. Will everything in this book work as intended? Who knows? The world has never seen the collapse of a high-tech, service-based global society. And I hope to never find out. But if it does, I know what I'm going to do. Do you?