Anticipation

At about this time 29 years ago I was looking forward to my wedding (and my honeymoon!). I didn’t worry too much about the ceremony, that was Lanette’s job. I did worry that she would get smart or come out of whatever fog she was in and decide I wasn’t worth marrying. She didn’t, much to her displeasure for all these years, and we have been together ever since.
In March of last year I was looking forward to the birth of my first grandchild. As the day of his grand entrance came closer I got more and more anxious. I was half crazed with anticipation, wanting so badly to see Soren before I even knew what he looked like. The waiting was agony!
Last year was my first year as a football broadcaster on KYFC radio. Todd Evangelist and I had a ball doing high school football games from all over the Valley. Before the season began I felt nervous. What if I sounded stupid? Or worse, what if I was boring? Hopefully, I was neither, and I am looking forward to another great season this year. Football is still four months away and I am chomping at the bit to get going!
A wedding, a grandson, and football. What on earth do they have in common? I was looking forward to each, and the anticipation for each was incredible. And each one turned out better than I could have hoped.
At Remnant we are finishing up our Elements series. Jeremiah taught about “Element ET: the End Times.” Not the other ET, although I wish someone had given Jeremiah Reese’s pieces right before the message! The Bible tells us what is going to happen as god draws this earth to a close, and it is amazing, terrifying and beautiful all at once.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, “The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise, they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.” (1 Thess. 4:16-18 The Message)
Christians will be gone! We will meet Jesus face to face. How incredible is that?
Unfortunately, there will be people who will be left behind. Hey, someone should write a book series about that… Anyway, there will stuck here. And it is going to get ugly. The Book of Revelation is pretty clear that bad stuff is going to happen to the earth once the Christians leave. In fact, it calls that seven years the Great Tribulation. I definitely don’t want to be here!
Growing up, I knew of preachers who dangle us over the fires of hell every Sunday like hot dogs over a fire pit. Their idea was to scare us out of hell. Jesus didn’t do that, in fact, he did the opposite. He chose to love people into heaven. He would confront them about their sin, but he forgave them and put them on the right track. Sound like a pretty good idea to me. If you are reading this and you haven’t turned your life over to Christ you need to do some real soul searching. God has offered you this incredible gift, the gift of salvation, and all you have to do is accept it. No hoops to jump through, no cleaning up necessary to begin, just accepting him. Once you do, get in touch with a good pastor and ask them to guide you through the next steps. You won’t be sorry!
You can also be comforted instead of terrified at the End Times. I am not afraid of what is coming because I know that God has a plan to take care of me. I will be fine, and you can, too!
To all of the Christians who are reading this, I have a question. Do you really believe all of what you have read? Do you really believe that Jesus could call us home any day? If so, shouldn’t that determine how you live your life? Shouldn’t that challenge you to do whatever it takes to reach your friends and family. If the days are truly short, then our time to reach our friends and loved ones is even shorter.
Looking at the sky and wondering when… Jerry