Are You Ready? In memoriam of the 9/11 victims and my grandfather.

As some of you know, my grandpa died this past February.
I recently saw a binder of his on my grandma's kitchen table entitled Devotional Life and asked her if I could borrow it. Upon reading it I felt a little bit like I was seeing my grandpa's heart. He had prayer lists, verses, hymns, writings, prayers and journalings typed out to look at everyday to remind him to follow God whole-heartedly. It stuck out to me that he REALLY loved his family and that he REALLY loved and God and that his life was completely centered around his Savior, and although I have seen where my grandpa's faults lay, mostly I see a man who truly loved and wanted to serve God with his life.

Anyways, here's a writing I found that particularly stood out to me

Are you ready? By Douglas G. Beason

"And the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air
and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess 4:16, 17

If you knew,
for a fact, that Christ would return tomorrow, what would we do tonight?
First of all, we would probably check ourselves to be sure all was well.
• Those harsh words - we must apologize.
• The brief time in the Word -
vs. eternity!
• Our mechanical Grace?
• Really prayer?
What does He think?

All these "little" things must surely be cared for before Christ returns, and HE IS Coming!
May come Tonight?
Are You Ready?

On Dec 7, 1941, an enemy bombed our fleet of ships in Pearl Harbor. This in spite
of the fact that the Army Chief of Staff was at his quarters at Fort Myer, Virginia undisturbed by a message.
In Hawaii, a top admiral and an army general dined with other intelligence chiefs, and were given reports of special import but passed them off.
In Washington, President Roosevelt received a message from Japan, "This means war!" He decided not to contact his chiefs.
This illustrates how we can become busy with routine items, pleasures, and relaxation while the curtain of the greatest war drama in American history was about to rise.

What are our reasons for our unpreparedness for our Lord's return?

A clipping from the GR Press, May 25, 1980:
"It was such a nice day, such a sunny Sunday, who could resist a close-up peek at the mountain which has teased them for so long?
At 8:32 Pacific Daylight time, last Sunday morning (May 18) the mountain which so many came to see, unleashed a fury that the president of the US said made the moon look like a golf course.
It was the suddenness which took everyone by surprise. Ever since March 27,
the volcano rumbling and stewing stem, threatening to go. Scientists kept
saying that the end might be near, but they couldn't say when. It blew
suddenly, scorching blasts of air and gas which devastated more than 150 square
miles in moments.

"We tried to let people know that the hazards were and
nobody listened, the people went over, under, through and around every attempt
we made to keep them out. The bottom line is, nobody would listen to us."
32 reported missing.

Terrorists flew into the Twin Towers Sept. 11th 2001.
Thousand were killed, unsuspectingly.
Many met Jesus;
Many were unsaved. All were surprised!
What a surprise for the terrorists.
They though they would be in Heaven with 7 virgins.
Instead - they were facing God.

The Event Happened.
It need not have happened
But it did.
It should not have happened
It happened at a non suspecting moment.

Glad for those who turned off their alarm
Glad for those who were late in arriving
Glad for the lady who was fired from her job
Glad for those who were sick, etc.

But the Rapture is a SURE THING!
It WILL happen! It is Predicted, Promised, and Pictured in Scripture.
We are told, taught, commanded to watch,
Encouraged to prepare
Heaven's prepared for a prepared People

Will you be ready? Saved?

Will you be happy to meet Him?
Surely!!!
Will you be ashamed?

I am satisfied with Jesus
He has done so much for me

I am satisfied, I am satisfied
I am satisfied with Jesus
But the question comes to me
As I think of Calvary
Is my Savior satisfied with me?

In spite of the truth of this fact, we find ourselves working, planning and buying as though we were to be here for all eternity.
We have settled the Salvation question, so we know we are ready.
But say, if Christ should come to your house today – would you REALLY be ready?"

So, today September 11th 2010, I ask you to do two things.

1) Remember and honor those who's lives were given and taken so abruptly 9 years ago today in the name of American liberty and freedom

and

2) Remember and honor the One who gave His life 2000 years ago on a cross, so you could be forgiven and live with him forever.

At my grandfather's funeral we used this verse to describe his life.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the
faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also
to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:7-8

As it struck me several times throughout the days after his death that my grandfather was truly a great and godly man, that his life had an eternal effect on a great many people and that this verse described him almost perfectly, it also struck me that if I were to die tomorrow, I don't think I would live up to this verse, especially that first part. That bothered me. And I resolved to live my life in a way that is worthy of that crown that is waiting for me. Now, I admit that I’ve failed a whole bunch since then, but I’m not giving up.

I challenge you today, to examine yourself and ask yourself are you living a life that brings HONOR to God? And make today the day that you start to ready yourself for when Christ comes again or calls you home.

Blooming Morning Mercies

For my birthday, I was given some gladioli. They’re beautiful, tall flowers, with many buds. The most beautiful part about them though is that only a couple buds blossom at a time. Now, that might seem like a downside. It would seem that a flower with so many buds would be more beautiful if all the buds blossomed at once, but that’s not true of this flower. This flower has around eight to ten buds. The first one is seated about halfway up the long stem and one by one they assemble up to the top of the stem.
Now, here’s where the exciting part comes in. When the plant first blossoms, only the flower on the very bottom comes out from the bud, it lasts for one glorious day. Then the next day it wilts and you must pluck it off.
BUT!
That is not the end for our beautiful flower! While the bud from the first day wilts, the next bud, the one directly above it is blossoming! This continues until all the buds have blossomed!

I’ve been greatly enjoying waking up each morning to see a new little beauty that has come out of its bud and I’ve even enjoyed picking off the dead blooms and throwing them away. And as I’ve been doing all this it struck me that these flowers are much like how our Christian lives should look.

In Ephesians 4:22-24 it says,

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Just like the gladiolus, everyday in our lives we are to take off the old and put on the new.
Everyday as we allow God to work in our lives, as we spend time in His Word, as we spend time talking and listening to Him, and following Him, He molds us to be more like Him. He reveals our sinfulness, and forgives us, so that we can purge ourselves of our old nature, and He shows us how to follow Him and how to be made new and holy.

But that’s not the only way the gladioli are like our Christian life.
In Lamentations 3:22-23 it says,

“Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His mercy never fails. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness”

When we wake up every morning God has new mercies for us.
Isn’t that amazing! Just like when I wake up each morning a new flower has bloomed!
God never runs out of mercy and grace for us. We can never mess up too big for Him to forgive. He always loves us and always be there with a new morning full of new mercies!
Mercy that allows us to have salvation, Mercy that allows us to have a relationship with Christ, Mercy that allows us to be free from sin, Mercy that allows us to have God’s Word and read it, Mercy that allows us to live a joy-filled life no matter the circumstance.

So, tomorrow when you wake up, or even right now, remember God’s great mercy and take time to be with Him, thank Him, and let Him show you how you can daily take off the old and put on the new. Just like the beautiful blossoms on my gladiolus.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"