For thought and meditation

[rl69]

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.—John 14:2–3 (http://harvest.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4f108f827aed8d503b5fca9fa&id=2f61ef63e2&e=3dd732485b)When you go on a trip, you must have your bags packed and be ready to move. In the same way, as followers of Christ, we're going on a trip. We don't know exactly when it will begin. It could be 20 years or 30 years from now. Or it could begin in 20 minutes or 20 seconds. That is why the Bible tells us to prepare to meet our God.

The prophet Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live'" (2 Kings 20:1).

Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. The hope and promise to all Christians is that we have a place prepared for us by Jesus. He said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2–3).

Are you prepared? Is your house in order right now? Are you ready? Maybe you're saying, "What do you mean by ready? How does a person get ready?"

You get ready by having Christ in your heart and knowing your sin is forgiven, knowing your life is right with Him.

You don't want to be living in a backslidden or compromised state. You want to be watching, ready, and alert—and even looking forward to the return of the Lord. In fact, I think that is something of a litmus test of your true spirituality. You will be homesick for Heaven. It is not that you have a death wish; it's that you are homesick for Heaven.

Is your house in order? Are you ready to go? Then you won't have to fear what happens beyond the grave

[USMC87]

In Christ and ready to go.

[square butte]

Amen . . .

[GhostHawk]

Spent decades not being ready, not doing his will.

Now I am trying to be ready all the time.
We know not the hour or the day, only that he will come. I believe LORD, I believe all your promises with all my heart.

[Blackwater]

It's typical when I read the obits, to see someone who died "too young." I always wonder if they were truly prepared. Occasionally, an infant dies, and that's always something that pulls my heart strings heavily. I also once came along just seconds after a black lady going to work with her young child had hit a white teenager riding his 4-wheeler at breakneck speed and failed to stop on a side dirt road. The woman was hysterical. The kid was laying in a ditch, moaning. I had a blanket in back of the truck, and got it and placed it over the kid, and told the lady he couldn't be moved, and called 911 with directions to the site. They came quickly, and all I could do was try to comfort the kid and stablize the woman as much as possible by telling her to take care of her little girl, who was crying and scared. Told her she had to show courage for the child's benefit, and she did, though still was understandably nervous and afraid. When a the EMT's got there, and a deputy, I told them what I'd seen and done, and gave them my name and contact info. The kid admitted in the ditch he'd been stupid not to stop, and said he didn't see the car coming. He was greatly humbled. I got a chance to witness to him briefly, and it seemed to sink in. I hope it lasted. It seemed to settle him down a good bit, and I think it was far from the first time he'd heard about Christ and right and wrong, and wisdom and foolishness. I doubt he forgot it easily.

So we never really know what will happen next. Life is always tenuous, and easily and quickly lost, no matter whether we think we're "10 ft. tall, bulletproof and immortal," or what. It's just the simple reality of our existence here. We wear these fragile bodies, that are so easily disrupted and damaged. And tomorrow, or even this evening, is promised to none of us, no matter what our age. And it's always a shock when death hits unexpectedly, as it so often does. It looks like we'd learn, but we don't, really.

Mostly, faith is something we HAVE to attend to daily and often, lest we fall back into thinking as we always had before we saw the Light. That's what today's lesson strikes in me, at least. There is SO much in these lessons that we so often, in our daily concerns and anxiousness to tend to the next thing that pops up before us, that often, we forget to give time to the really serious and most consequential things we can possibly do - maintaining and expanding our understanding and strength of our Faith. That's why this Chapel means so much to me. It's become addictive, with all the great stuff posted and great folks who frequent and contribute here. Thanks to all of you. You matter. A LOT!