Tag: second coming

  • Ready or not – it’s coming (Christmas too!)

    A banner with a Santa hat - the text reads, "Are you ready?"

    Good morning. It’s December 11th, and only two  weeks until Christmas.

    Two weeks to Christmas? How did that happen? It snuck up on me. I’m not ready!

    Ready or not, it’s coming soon. Are you ready?

    The thought that Christmas is only two weeks away instills panic in many people. Some have been ready since January, others by December 1st, and others are mostly ready. A good number of people haven’t even started their Christmas prep.

    Something in the fallen human psyche often causes us to want to procrastinate. For example, we all know it’s winter, and the likelihood of a winter car breakdown or getting stuck in traffic for hours is high. Yet, how many of us have any form of emergency gear in the car?

    It’s winter, and we know there is a good possibility of power grid failure for days or more. Yet, relatively few people are prepared for even two or three days without power, heat, or water. Even the government recognizes we should all have three days to two weeks of emergency food and water on hand. If the government thinks that things will return to normal in two weeks in the event of a disaster, you know it will most likely take far longer. 

    We see that played out in every major hurricane, flood, ice storm, and manmade or natural disaster. The government and relief agencies do their best, but more is needed.

    We know all that and still fail to prepare.  It’s called normalcy bias. One source describes it this way: “Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a cognitive bias which leads people to disbelieve or minimize threat warnings. Consequently, individuals underestimate the likelihood of a disaster, when it might affect them, and its potential adverse effects. The normalcy bias causes many people to prepare inadequately for natural disasters, market crashes, and calamities caused by human error. About 80% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster?”

    It also plays out in other ways. I know people who know that the Christian faith is the truth, but they aren’t prepared to surrender to Jesus yet. They have some arbitrary date or event in mind that they want to pass before becoming believers.

    Millions, perhaps billions of people, have heard the call of the Holy Spirit yet refuse Him, thinking they are somehow immune to the consequences.

    Yet the Scriptures clearly state that everyone will hear the truth, and there will be consequences for what one does with that information.

    “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.  am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:12-13 ESV

    He is coming back to make all things right.

    But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—  lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake“ Mark 13:32-37 ESV

    Not being ready for Christmas might be uncomfortable. Not being ready for Jesus will be disastrous.

    Are you prepared?

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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  • Old Porky

    God is not a porcupine

    Porcupine in a tree

    The big old porcupine waddled from the road’s edge down into the  ditch. I was surprised because the only porcupines I ever see on or near the road are dead ones or the ones you are about to run over. I do not recall seeing one that had crossed the road.

    Immediately, all the corny jokes ran through my mind. “Why did the porcupine cross the road?” I will not bother to share them with you; you have undoubtedly heard them all as chicken, gopher, or turtle jokes.

    Porcupines (Old Porky) are fascinating creatures and are relatively common throughout much of North America. Some of my reading tells me they have an average of 30,000 quills. I do not know who counted them, but there is a lot of potential for sticking to things.

    Porcupines are herbaceous, but they sometimes get in trouble around people because they do like a little salt in their diet. That means they are apt to chew on anything that has had sweat on it. Saddles, axe handles, blankets, and the like have fallen prey to Old Porky’s taste for salty things.

    You do not often see them in water, but porcupines are great swimmers. All those hollow quills give them extra buoyancy, so a little pond or stream is no barrier to a porcupine with an eye for the vegetation on the other bank.

    Old Porky is a slow-moving creature that is near-sighted. That makes them easy to approach. You simply have to ensure you are not within reach of their tail. One swat of that tail can leave you with a hand full or leg full of nasty barbs. 

    Contrary to popular legend, they do not shoot their quills, but their tails can move surprisingly quickly. Many dogs or cats have learned the hard way that porcupines might be slow, but they prefer to avoid being bothered.

    Some people think porcupines are stupid because they are slow and nearsighted. Not so. They have excellent memories, and I have been told they can be trained to do tricks.

    I think that people often view God as being like Old Porky. They assume He is near-sighted and cannot see their sin or that He is not very bright and accepts all the lies and rationalizations they use to justify their sin.

    People also seem to think that God is slow in coming, just like Old Porky moves slowly. Or they seem to believe that He is never coming back because He’s lying out there dead alongside the road somewhere.

    Don’t you believe it.

    God is not blind. God is not dumb. God is not dead. Jesus is coming back. He is simply awaiting the perfect moment.

    This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,  knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.  They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,  and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

    The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

    Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells 2 Peter 3:1-13 ESV

    Until next time, we can rejoice that He is alive, sees all and He is coming back for us.

    Kevin

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