Be Prepared

Yesterday I had a momentary thought that I might be meeting Jesus face to face a little sooner than I’d expected. Don’t get me wrong--I wasn’t buying into the May 21 is the Rapture stuff. I was having a nasty reaction to something, and I felt like my throat was swelling up. I’ll spare you the disgusting details, but suffice it to say, for a short moment there, I really thought it might be the end.

It turned out to be food poisoning. My first bout with it landed me in an ambulance and the ER. What can I say? I guess I have a flair for the dramatic. How serious was it really? I’m not sure, exactly. My reaction was quick and extremely violent, but it left almost as quickly as it came.

I guess God isn’t finished with me here yet. (Thank You, Lord!)

My little scare (and my stint as a member of the Boy Scout committee here in town) has me thinking about being prepared. In that moment of uncertainty, I had a chance to talk to God and repent of things I might have forgotten about otherwise. We aren’t guaranteed that chance. Life is uncertain.

Now I’m hoping that the next time I think meeting Jesus is imminent, it will be when the Rapture is actually happening. In Matthew 24:36-42 (The Message), Jesus says, “’But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows. The Arrival of the Son of Man will happen in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood, everyone was carrying on like usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing--until the flood hit and swept everything away. The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field--one will be taken, one left behind. Two women will be grinding in the mill--one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up.’”

I don’t know when that day will be, but I know I need to be ready. I need to live each day as though it were my last, whether the end comes through Christ’s return or from a bowl of bad macaroni salad.

As the Boy Scout motto says, “Be Prepared.”