Coming Soon.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Coming Soon. I laid awake most of last night thinking. If you haven’t heard of the biggest Arkansas stories of the new year thus far, let me share a bit with you. Just a few moments after 2011 began, about 5,000 birds unexplainably fell from the air, dead, near Beebe, a city just down the road from where I live. On the same day, about 90,000 fish, all the same species, were found floating, dead, in the Arkansas River near Ozark along about a 15 mile span of water. There are already tons of theories, but the Arkansas Game and Fish have said that based upon the birds autopsy, disease wasn’t a factor. Nothing has yet to be ruled out with the fish.
Already people are saying this stems from all types of things. Some are already shouting global warming. While others are eerily remembering the movie 2012 about the Mayan prophecy of the world’s ending in that year. I’m not an alarmist, and I’m sure there’s a very good reason for these 2 strange events we have seen in our home state. But it did make me begin to think about His return.
As I lay there in bed thinking about all that’s going on in our world, there’s just no way to explain all of it away. The events of planet earth are building. They are building to what will most assuredly be a climax that this world has never known before. War, disease, drought, famine, unrest, genocide, power…just watch the news occasionally and you will see. Our world is exactly what the Word said it would be in the last days.
And the trumpet sound – the great calling away – the rapture – could easily happen at any moment. There’s nothing left to be accomplished as it relates to Bible prophecy in order for Christ to come back. It could happen any second. This reality usually brings joy and peace to my heart. I normally get giddy at the thought of Christ returning. But for some reason, as I laid awake last night, it made me feel restless and uneasy.
I couldn’t stop thinking about all that aren’t prepared around me. There are so many people – even right here in my own neighborhood – that aren’t ready. If Christ returned at this very moment, so many that I’ve seen daily would not be ready to stand before Him. I honestly don’t think death is the most urgent event to be prepared for in our day, though it is a very real possibility. I honestly think the return of Christ is more eminent and soon.
So as I lay there, with my mind racing to who all need to hear about Him, the thought ran through my mind and suddenly grabbed me: What are you going to do about it? It’s easy to speak of concern for people. It’s easy to say God has burdened us with the eternal need that people have. It’s so easy to talk about feeling conviction for not sharing Christ enough. But what about putting some action where our words are? If the concern, the burden, the conviction is real – motivation to act will immediately follow.
So this morning I’m faced with a very real reality for my life: I don’t share Jesus nearly enough. And He used my sleepless night of uneasy fear to remind me of that. So I’m asking Him to give me the courage, the strength, the boldness – to make 2011 a year of the Gospel, beginning today.
He’s coming soon. Are you ready? Are they?


That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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