I just placed a needed wake up call ...... to myself!

You may want to keep your seat belts fastened because I can never be sure when some unexpected turbulence might make itself known during this flight of fancy called 'my blog'. It is Thursday, May 10, 2010 and I am very happy to report that we have been the recipients of a number of well timed rain showers over the past several days. Some folks in and around this huge metro area got much more than just a shower. I have this bad habit of wondering how someone might feel standing ankle deep in water in their living room watching the weather person say we are now only five inches below our normal for the year. It's like when I read the obituary of a person who had a life characterized by a number of near miraculous escapes from death. Yet, there it is, their photo and a write up about their departure from this life into eternity. It's like a fellow I heard about who was a campaigner for fitness but ended up being crippled by a hit and run driver as he was jogging. We always say to one another that we never know what a day will bring, but folks, we really don't know, do we? My mom reported to me that our dear Uncle Asa has been taken down by a stroke and is currently in the hospital in North Carolina. He is 88 years young and she had just talked to him the night before his stroke and he was still heated up trying to get hold of his birth certificate so he could renew his driver's license. Please say a prayer for our Uncle Asa. He has always been a larger than life character in our family. He's been trying to get proof of his birth from Louisiana for months and it has played out like a comedy. I am from Louisiana. I grew up in Louisiana. Why am I not surprised he's had so much trouble proving he was actually born?

My point is that we get up every day and we go our way but we really don't have a clue as to what might be facing us before day's end. I read through a list of famous deathbed confessions and it's remarkable how people desire to clear their conscience before breathing their last. The most notable have to do with unsolved murders that were confessed to by the dying person. Others involved their participation in some great crime like one who owned up to stealing a priceless violin. In reading over recorded last words from notable people it was obvious how faith in God played a crucial role in how people face death. One challenged those around him to observe how a Christian goes on to his reward. Of course, sadly, there are many who go out cursing life, death, and God. However, the one common denominator is that in the end, they all uttered what were their last words. Sounds morbid because it is morbid, but the death rate is still 100% and it doesn't have to be a depressing thought for those who know the Lord. I take God at His word and He has said that the death of those who have placed their faith in Him is precious in His sight. If you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then He's talking about you! This doesn't mean we want to leave here before our time because as long as we are here He has something for us to do, but, it does mean that we can with anticipation and a heartfelt longing look forward to our promotion into His presence. (Psalm 116:15)

There's a Scripture that always causes me to stop and think. The Apostle Peter, as he faced his own soon approaching promotion day, via inspiration from God, gave great insight into how God will bring an end to all things. We don't have to guess at or wonder about this. God has given it to us in His word. Having given these clear but sobering descriptions of these cataclysmic events, Peter then lays out a probing and convicting question: "Therefore since all of these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons should you be in holy conduct and Godliness?" (Read 2 Peter Chapter 3.) We don't have to guess about the future because God has that all figured out but we do have our life to account for. Those words almost seem like foreign terms to us today, holy conduct and a lifestyle characterized by Godliness? However, friends and neighbors, they still mean exactly what they meant when the Apostle Peter penned them. God's expectation is that we would live according to His will in how it is that we get up every day to do our thing. Tall order? It's an impossible order without God's help which He has also promised to those who seek to live for Him. We will no doubt continue to be clueless about many of the things that are just around the next corner, however, we can grab hold of what we do have, our time, our talent, our testimony, and our treasure, and use them as best we know how to bring honor and glory to our Great God. When we do this we tend to lose contact with our worry over the unknowns because of being so focused in doing the life He has given to us, His way! Thanks, I needed that perhaps more than you did. Amen. ......More later.