I was minding my own business, enjoying a late supper when the telephone rang. It seems the lady speaking to me was very concerned because her church attendance has slipped a long ways this summer and one of her friends had told her that the "end of the world" was at hand. I had to smile, I couldn't laugh because that would have been rude. What do you do when you believe that the world may be ending soon? "Call the preacher and see if he has some sort of inside information so you can get ready." I think this was what she had on her mind. Many lives are caught up every day in the life and death struggles of catastrophes. People react in a variety of ways. Some try to save as much of their worldly wealth as they can, some seek to save themselves and their immediate families, and yet, others will sacrifice their own lives to save strangers in the midst of the crisis. Sitting here on the Great American Desert it is hard to fathom a flood of the proportions we are seeing on the news blurps. I've been through a minor flood that affected homes and belongings, but never one that truly threatened life and limb as Katrina is proceeding to do. My caller had very real fears, mostly for what was going to happen to her if this was the end. I'm not sure she liked the response, but it is the only one that I know. We can't walk in fear, we must place our trust in God and pray for the very best in every given situation. That means, for me, that if you have received Christ as your Savior, and strived each day to develop a relationship with Him that there is very little in this world that one need concern themselves over. Surely death will take us all, and as for this being a sign of the beginning of the end, well, the beginning of the end starts for each of us when we know without a doubt that there is a "new" beginning to be achieved in faith. How much of our world is dying right now is not the question we should be worried about I suggested to my telephone visitor. The important "thing" is how we are living our lives and to whom we believe ourselves to belong. "The Bible teaches us that no person is going to know the time of Christ's return." It also teaches us how to confront our fears and place our priorities in an order that works in accordance with God's direction. My caller seemed to accept my explanations, and I have a hunch I'll be seeing her in church, again, soon! I pray that we are all doing the best thing we can right now for the victims of this storm, praying! God bless, Preacher.
I was minding my own business, enjoying a late supper when the telephone rang. It seems the lady speaking to me was very concerned because her church attendance has slipped a long ways this summer and one of her friends had told her that the "end of the world" was at hand. I had to smile, I couldn't laugh because that would have been rude. What do you do when you believe that the world may be ending soon? "Call the preacher and see if he has some sort of inside information so you can get ready." I think this was what she had on her mind. Many lives are caught up every day in the life and death struggles of catastrophes. People react in a variety of ways. Some try to save as much of their worldly wealth as they can, some seek to save themselves and their immediate families, and yet, others will sacrifice their own lives to save strangers in the midst of the crisis. Sitting here on the Great American Desert it is hard to fathom a flood of the proportions we are seeing on the news blurps. I've been through a minor flood that affected homes and belongings, but never one that truly threatened life and limb as Katrina is proceeding to do. My caller had very real fears, mostly for what was going to happen to her if this was the end. I'm not sure she liked the response, but it is the only one that I know. We can't walk in fear, we must place our trust in God and pray for the very best in every given situation. That means, for me, that if you have received Christ as your Savior, and strived each day to develop a relationship with Him that there is very little in this world that one need concern themselves over. Surely death will take us all, and as for this being a sign of the beginning of the end, well, the beginning of the end starts for each of us when we know without a doubt that there is a "new" beginning to be achieved in faith. How much of our world is dying right now is not the question we should be worried about I suggested to my telephone visitor. The important "thing" is how we are living our lives and to whom we believe ourselves to belong. "The Bible teaches us that no person is going to know the time of Christ's return." It also teaches us how to confront our fears and place our priorities in an order that works in accordance with God's direction. My caller seemed to accept my explanations, and I have a hunch I'll be seeing her in church, again, soon! I pray that we are all doing the best thing we can right now for the victims of this storm, praying! God bless, Preacher.
