Twenty years ago I won a trip to Cancun for my sales achievements. Among the winners there was a guy named Bill, from Cincinnati, who referred to himself as Top Gun. Think of the caricature of the open shirt, gold chains, and all about me attitude and you have Bill. Even his wife Julie had this disease, as in March she showed up fully tanned, and had trouble convincing anyone she got it from just laying out. On her patio, in Ohio, in February. The same couple whose flight was delayed because of the winter storm. I think you get the picture.
After seven days of enduring them, the last night was a banquet and they and their friends stayed up late partying. Just be at the lobby at ten so you don't miss the bus to the airport. So being the concerned admirer of the Top Guns, I left a wakeup call for 5am. When they showed up in the lobby early, Mrs. TG was cheesed off, she thought her husband had left the wake up call. And the more he denied it, the madder she got. Both fully enjoying the effects that you can only get from too much cheap tequila, and only two hours sleep. Maximum results with minimum effort-and when we all laughed at them when they were told I did it, and refused to believe it-she only got madder-at him! Cheap tequila-$2. Motel room $100. Wake up call-priceless!
We live in a society today that is alarm crazy. We need them to wake up, why does the first sound you hear that morning have to be so annoying-even more so when you forget to turn it off on weekends? And when the car alarm goes off on the tricolored Hyundai, with bondo, at three in the morning-why does no one respond? We only hope it is stolen so the alarm goes away. And how many have removed the batteries from their smoke detectors when they went off and no fire was found-not knowing it was because they were low and needed to be replaced! Yes, alarms serve their purpose, it's just sometimes the receiving end doesn't get the message. Except when your cell phone battery goes dead-gee, I wonder what that flashing light meant? Like DUH!
Alarms are meant to warn, or advise of a coming danger-both if heeded and also if ignored. The world today is almost crazy with end of the world stimulation. From the 2012 coming event-why would you trust the Mayans, they are dead and were cannibals, and didn't make it to 2012, to Nostradamus to Da Vinci codes to Felix the Cat looking forward to a day without dogs, the world is anticipating an end to the world as we know it. And they should, except they are following false signs, and ignoring Biblical prophecy. And get the all the pain and suffering God wants to rescue you from. God's standard for prophets was either you are right, or you are dead, maybe the Mayans fit that criteria. In other words, you were 100% right or you kept your mouth shut, and didn't go on a book tour. Death by stoning was the popular method at the time. But yet we have Tarot cards, fortune tellers, astrologists, and other charlatans who are leading people to the end-but away from God. Let's take a look at what Jesus says, for instance. Alarms, or warnings of what is to come. Wake up calls for the soul.
First, there will be tribulation. Spend five minutes with the news, it ain't good. Rape, murder, crime, corruption, and all forms of sin are increasing. There will be pestilence, or disease. AIDS is so out of control, if the newest scare for Swine Flu wasn't so deadly, it would still be grabbing headlines. We now have earthquake, fire, and hurricane seasons, such is the frequency of these events, just as the Bible warned. Children would rebel, and men become lovers of themselves-take a look around if you are brave enough, read the ads-after 45 years of the Rolling Stones warning us, we still can't get no satisfaction. Wars breaking out everywhere, the nation of Israel having the whole world turn against it, except for us, and that seems to be the next political error our government makes, these things are all telling us that Jesus calling us home is near. The event we are waiting for, yet so many whine and complain-believers that is, about having to go through those times. Maybe they should jump to the end-we win, and the prize is in heaven-joy unspeakable! But yet we must endure to the end. Life is not a sprint, maybe that is why so many burn out, they live life fast with no regard to tomorrow, but it is an endurance race. You get through the tough times, enjoy the good ones, but know that at the end it will all be worth it as it ends in victory. Not so for the lost, they get hell. Not just first loser, but forever lost. And it doesn't have to be that way. The signs are there, the warnings are audible as well as visual. Jesus warns he who has an ear let him hear. Are we? Do we?
Or are we like the mothers running to the nursery at a get together, each one knowing their child's own cry, yet upon getting there find it was the cat screaming when one of the kids grabbed its tail? Do we really know the voice of God? It hasn't changed, and won't. It doesn't take a walk in the garden like Adam had, but someday we will. It doesn't take being alone in a cave like Elijah, but it can. If you are like me, it is in the tough times when we seek God more, maybe that is why He allows them, so we call on Him. So next time you wonder why you are enduring trials, remember it is an endurance race, and it is because God loves you that you are participating. And soon, you will cross the finish line.
The signs are there, where is your heart? If you don't heed the alarms, prepare to be alarmed at the outcome. As for me, I'll be sleeping in-in heaven that is. A rest that only God can provide, with no more alarms going off at three in the morning. No sin there either. The spirit is calling-how will you answer? This may be the last alarm going off before the rapture. Don't be a Mayan, you can have all that God promises and heaven too, today.
My only prophecy is that it will happen just as God says. My first and last prophecy, with no fear of death. That trumpet you hear is welcoming you home, don't be alarmed. And don't be like an old girlfriend who drove 40 miles with the low oil light on, and then got mad when the engine seized, "nobody told me what that light was for," she claimed.
We are at the two minute warning, and are out of time outs. It is time to trust God before the clock expires. If only you had listened to that alarm going off in your soul...
love with compassion,
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