Worst comes to worst...

This is one of my favorite sections in the Doctrine and Covenants.  Given while Joseph Smith was enduring an illegal imprisonment in a jail not much better than a basement,  it covers pretty much everything.

The Doctrine and Covenants

Section 122

The word of the Lord to Joseph Smith the Prophet, while he was a prisoner in the jail at Liberty, Missouri, March 1839 (see History of the Church, 3:300–301).

1–4, The ends of the earth will inquire after the name of Joseph Smith; 5–7, All his perils and travails will give him experience and be for his good; 8–9, The Son of Man has descended below them all.

 1 The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy ^aname, and fools shall have thee in ^bderision, and hell shall rage against thee;

 2 While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek ^acounsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand.

 3 And thy ^apeople shall never be turned against thee by the testimony of traitors.

 4 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in ^ahonor; and but for a small ^bmoment and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine enemies than the fierce ^clion, because of thy righteousness; and thy God shall stand by thee forever and ever.

 5 If thou art called to pass through ^atribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in ^bperils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

 6 If thou art ^aaccused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to ^bprison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like ^cwolves for the blood of the lamb;

 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

 8 The ^aSon of Man hath ^bdescended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

 9 Therefore, ^ahold on thy way, and the priesthood shall ^bremain with thee; for their ^cbounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy ^ddays are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, ^efear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

Earthquake!

So, in case you didn't know already, yesterday there was an earthquake on the East Coast.  It actually happened right as I was talking about Sauron yesterday.  I thought it was pretty cool.  Everything in the library started to sway, and the earth undulated about an inch and a half.  This all went on for about thirty seconds, wherein the library staff told people to leave the stacks, and step away from the windows.  People seemed to be pretty shaken up by it.

I wish I'd gotten a better start on my emergency kit like President Schaefermeyer told us.  At zone conference two weeks ago, he told us that we should have a backpack with enough food and supplies for three days.  It's part of something our church has done for a long time; prepare.

You see, we remember a series of prophecies that the Lord made shortly before his death.  (If you care to follow along in Matthew 24, you'll see what I mean.) The Apostles were worried about when he would come again, and when the end of the world would happen.  Jesus began by making a series of prophecies, saying that there would be many wars, rumors of wars, famines, antichrists, and earthquakes.  These would be only the beginning, for the apostles themselves would be killed.  After that, there would be many people offended, falling away from the church.  There would be false prophets.  Basically, he was prophesying of the apostasy.  Then, he touched on the restoration and prophesied about how the Gospel would be taught to all the world.  He told the Apostles about how they needed to be prepared for all of these things.

Nowadays, we have a lot of things to worry about.  Down here on the DeMaVa peninsula, I think we have a maximum elevation of something like 100 feet, so if a big enough tsunami were to come in, it could probably take out most of us.  Let's not forget the nuclear power plants across the river in New Jersey.  Or how about the big Nor'Easter rain storms that come in every so often?  I think we've had three in the past two weeks, complete with thunder and lightning about a mile from our house.  (Woke me up, too.  On the order of light and sound at the same time.  It took me about half an hour to get back to sleep.)

Anyway, we need to be prepared.  That's why the brethren of the church have counseled us to have food ready.  Get out of debt, buy enough food to last for three months, and make sure that you're ready.  My family has a set of shelves full of ten pound cans, and we rotate them out to make sure that we always have a current supply.  The fridge and freezer are always full of food.

Like the Lord has stated in modern times, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30)