The money for the expensive seafood dinner and the best local belly dance troupe will be set aside in my will.
Seriously, I think the Chastisement will come in my lifetime (I'm 40), and we'll have to die for the Lord or give up our faith.
I'm ready to die for the Lord. When my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I said "My desire is depart and be with Christ, for that is far better," and I haven't seen any reason to backtrack.
I hope my kids don't have to live without indoor plumbing ... but my grandparents managed it, so it's not like that's decisive, in the Big Picture! :-).
I'm just a generation removed from subsistence farming myself. Most of my surviving relatives of the previous generation keep gardens, live frugally, etcetera. I've lived long enough to see the wisdom in it. My grandmother didn't have an indoor toilet until she became physically disabled and had one put in, and even then, thought it was unclean to have a "privvy" inside the house. She never really liked it, but it became a necessity.
Maybe not the final one, but definitely a chastisement.
This is a stark turn for you, Mrs. Chick. If the Chastisment is coming soon, I defer to the marvelous quote that appears on Amy Wellborns' blog and which comes from the Flannery O'Connor story, Temple of the Holy Spirit:
"She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick."
My predicament, I believe...
F