{"id":20305,"date":"2026-07-28T18:11:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/?p=20305"},"modified":"2026-07-28T21:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T02:46:15","slug":"prepare-for-lifes-greatest-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/prepare-for-lifes-greatest-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"Before the Fire Comes: How to Prepare for Life\u2019s Greatest Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raging European wildfires remind us to prepare for life\u2019s greatest losses before they arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wildfires are consuming parts of Spain and France at a staggering pace. Hundreds of thousands have evacuated, many leaving with only what they could carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether our greatest loss comes through fire, disease, betrayal, or tragedy, the time to prepare for life&#8217;s greatest losses is before the smoke appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Spain-wildfires-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Prepare Before Disaster\" class=\"wp-image-20334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Spain-wildfires-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Spain-wildfires-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Spain-wildfires-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Spain-wildfires.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A resident walks through the devastation caused by wildfires in Spain. AP Photo\/Manu Fern\u00e1ndez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every disaster raises the same question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If everything changed tomorrow, what would still be standing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve never seen anything like this.&#8221;<br>\u2014 Javier Organista, a resident of El Tiemblo, Spain<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The answer isn&#8217;t found in our possessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s found in how we&#8217;ve prepared long before the crisis begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three ideas from Europe&#8217;s deadliest wildfires offer some intriguing lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-1-preparing-for-life-s-greatest-losses-means-adapting\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">1. Preparing for life&#8217;s greatest losses means adapting<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Survivors acknowledge that &#8220;normal&#8221; constantly changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/la-wildfires-recovery\/\">new normal<\/a> doesn&#8217;t have to dictate the final outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life may never return to what it used to be. But that doesn&#8217;t mean something new and even better can&#8217;t begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;For everything you have missed, you have gained something else.&#8221;<br>\u2014 Ralph Waldo Emerson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ponder that for a minute. New dreams can be fashioned in the new normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wildfires remind us that normal is fleeting. Normal is the intermission between storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s why survivors choose a commanding reference point for&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>stamina<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>stability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>strength<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8230;long before the wildfires strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 71, I&#8217;ve learned that the old normal is constantly being replaced with the new normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Choose your center carefully.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One that can deliver from wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-2-choose-a-commanding-center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">2. Choose a commanding center<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since we can lose everything quickly, it&#8217;s good to stake your <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/how-to-invite-god-into-your-gloomy-dark-suffering\/\">central reference point<\/a> early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Commanders have one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pilots have one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Families need one too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Few things are more valuable in life than a central reference point, a commanding center you clutch in a disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s the first thing Navy pilots learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Focus on a commanding center and don&#8217;t freak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They learn this in &#8220;Dunker&#8221; flight training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Strap into the Dunker, hands and feet tied<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thrust upside down into water<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Escape before drowning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Find and hold onto something that sustains in the blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, regroup and take the next tiny step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is the ideal commanding center? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Maker and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.&#8221;<br>\u2014 Ps 75:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Focus on the commanding center. Not your circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-3-rebuild-with-new-dreams\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\">3. Rebuild with new dreams<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don&#8217;t give up on your dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don&#8217;t adopt the dust of disaster as your permanent address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lift your eyes. New dreams grow in unlikely places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The European wildfires won&#8217;t be the last tragedy we witness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nor will they be the last reminder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everyone eventually faces great loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The people who endure it best are rarely the ones with the fewest problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They&#8217;re the ones who prepared long before the smoke appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Before the fire comes, choose your center.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When the fire comes, respond. Don&#8217;t react.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After the fire, embrace the new normal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then keep rebuilding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s how resilient lives are built and rebuilt again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stories like this are part of the reflections I write about life, resilience, and purpose explored on my <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/about-stephen-blaising\/\">About Stephen Blaising<\/a><\/strong> page.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raging European wildfires remind us to prepare for life\u2019s greatest losses before they arrive. Wildfires are consuming parts of Spain and France at a staggering pace. Hundreds of thousands have evacuated, many leaving with only what they could carry. Whether our greatest loss comes through fire, disease, betrayal, or tragedy, the time to prepare for [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"Before the Fire Comes: How to Prepare for Life\u2019s Greatest Losses","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3744],"tags":[155,3752,2246],"class_list":["post-20305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resilience","tag-hope","tag-resilience","tag-wildfires"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Prepare for Life&#039;s Greatest Losses Before the Fire Comes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Prepare for life&#039;s greatest losses before tragedy strikes. 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