For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
2 Corinthians 9:1-4
Though the Revenue Marine service was established in 1790, the Coast Guard Act of 1915 officially named and established the Coast Guard as the service we know today. Seven years later, the captain of the cutter Yamacraw, Franis Saltus van Boskerck, wrote an anthem based on the official motto Semper Paramus (always ready). A few years later, van Boskerck wrote music to go along with it, and it became the Coast Guard’s official song.
We’re always ready for the call,
We place our trust in Thee.
Through surf and storm and howling gale,
High shall our purpose be.
“Semper Paratus” is our guide,
Our fame, our glory too.
To fight to save or fight and die,
Aye! Coast Guard we are for you!
Even though none of us know the future, there is great value in being prepared for the things that we know may be coming. The Bible repeatedly commends those who apply foresight to future possibilities and reminds us that this protects us from danger. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3). The more thoroughly that we are prepared, the better we are able to respond to the uncertainties of the future. Those who make no provision or plans for things to come are foolish, and the lack of preparation will limit their ability to do all they can for God. As someone said, “There are prepared places for prepared people.”
