The Winds of Change

The winds of change are here and we are about to embark on a new road.  It won't be the path of the world, and it will require much of us, but as the Lord spoke:

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Whatever happens, whatever comes, the Lord will be at our side, leading us.  He will share in our troubles and griefs, and the "burden" of our walk with Him will give us the rest and comfort we seek.

The change to come is not the empty promises of these days, but the prophesy from the beginning of the age until now, of the return of our Lord, the mighty Son of God--Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  His return is soon.  Let us not, as the young man in the previous post, find ourselves unprepared for the unexpected.   Can you imagine how stunned and overwhelmed he was when he found out the truth of what happened?  How much more will our grief be when we find that we have lost out eternally of a life in the new world to come.  How sorrowful we will be when we see those for whom we were responsible had walked with the world and lost the promise of all the blessings of the new world.

The road to a new life is in front of you.  Will you keep to the pathway of the world, or walk with the Lord?  The prophesy of what is to come:

Matthew 24 Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple 1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for allthese things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

The Great Tribulation 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.

26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The Coming of the Son of Man  29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree 32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

No One Knows the Day or Hour  36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant 45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Unexpected

Yesterday in the paper there was an article of a young man that allegedly had a coughing fit while driving.  It caused him to run off the roadway and into a crowd of people outside a bar, killing three and injuring others.  He was over the limit on his blood-alcohol test.  It happened right after the bars closed and when responders (or bystanders, I don't remember which) came over his first thoughts were, "Was anyone hurt?"   He was a caring person, yet he just killed three people.

The bars are filled with boozers every night and the bar parking lots empty out when the 2 am hour strikes.  Someone is driving drunk tonight, thinking they can handle any situation.  The guy referred to in the previous paragraph, was a big guy, 33, and probably thought he was in complete control.  But that night, the unexpected happened.  If he is found guilty, he will be spending most of his life in jail.  Everything he has earned will be gone to pay for the families' burials of their loved ones.  For the rest of his life he will be carrying the grief of knowing that he killed three people and he could have prevented it.

How often do fathers and loved ones set examples of irresponsibility that their children only see as a freedom?  How many times does a death have to happen before others are awakened to the dangers of drinking and driving?  Will our children be the next victims?  Don't let alcohol be your strength, your comfort or your life, set the pace for those who look up to you and just don't drink.  If you don't know where to start--start with prayer.  The Lord will guide you and open doors for help.

Living on the Edge

At church tonight, the sermon centered around "living on the edge."   I love that phrase--"living on the edge."  It referred to those who spoke of Jesus, those willing to put it all on the line to follow the Lord.   The Bible is replete with examples of those who stepped out in faith. 

In our lives, God has blessed us abundantly -- we have family, we have food, we have shelter, we have all that we need, and more!   We are snug in our little spot, but this time will pass.  Our foundation needs to be firm when we stand against the world.   The pastor told a story of a woman during wartime. (I am ad-libbing the parts I missed, as the children distracted me during the story.) --  Emma was part of a group of women quilters.  One day enemy soldiers were walking by and she took her broom out after them.  The soldiers shrugged her off.  The other women laughed at her when they heard and asked her what she thought she was doing.   She said she knew she couldn't win a battle, but she wanted them to know what side she was on. 

Don't we feel like we are waving a little broom against enemy guns, when we go against the world?  Yet, we stand.  Whatever happens, God will be there with us. In the battle, let us stand on His side.

ROMANS 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;


We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”


37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Long days.

Last week, my son and his wife moved my storage out of a large storage unit and into one half the size (and almost half the cost.)  I have been moving stuff out of the unit over time, resulting in quite a bit wasted space.  We then moved the clothing boxes, linen boxes and "fragile" boxes back to the house to go through.  It appears to be an overwhelming task, as I sit and look at the boxes.  But, proceeding with one foot in front of the other, I will eventually get it done, one box at a time!!

We have had heavy rains these last few days and they have saved our stressed out trees! The grass, that was withered and brown, has once again turned green.  You would never guess that this is October!!  I like this weather--it is nice.  If we don't see snow or cold, I will be happy. 

My grandson was baptized the night before his father left.  He was baptized by his father.  The other children were all baptized in church, but Timmy wasn't.  Time constraints overwhelmed us, with all that was going on, so it fell on Tim to baptize Timmy.   I believe God brings about happenings in our lives, to strengthen our faith, and bring families together.  Does a pastor have more authority to do a baptism?  Would someone more knowledgeable about the Bible have more authority to do a baptism?  No.  The answer is "no" to both questions.  It is not our knowledge, it is not our authority, power or any act of ours, that brings about the washing away of the sins, it is all  done by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He knows our heart and that is what is important--that we love Him.

All is good.