The Clock is Ticking Away

I've been hearing it for fifty+ years...the end time is near, Jesus is coming.   Like most, including the those living in Jesus time, our ears have heard it but our response is less than anticipatory.  Prophecy of His return has become 'old news' and our ears have grown dull.

      II Peter 3:4 "...Where is the promise of his coming: for since the fathers
      fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

Take a look around you today, read Luke 21, and consider the world wide confusion and chaos....the clock is tick, tick, ticking..."And at midnight there was a cry made, 'Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.' " (Matt 25:6)

                                               IT'S ALMOST MIDNIGHT
                                                
                                        It's almost midnight,
                                        It's dark and it's almost time-
                                        It's almost midnight,
                                        Is there oil in you lamp?
                                        Is it burning bright?
                                        It's almost midnight,
                                        Are you waiting for His call?
                                        The time is growing short
                                        The day is almost gone
                                        It's almost midnight!
                                        Wisdom's voice cries at the gate
                                        "The Bridegroom cometh..."
                                        Is your lamp trimmed?
                                        Is it burning bright?
                                        Are you listening for the call
                                        "The Bridegroom cometh,
                                        Go out to meet Him!"
                                        It's almost midnight,
                                        Is there oil in your lamp?
                                        Is it burning bright?

Oh Lord, shake us - wake us - give us a renewed passion to light the world with your truth.  Annoint us with a new desire to reach the lost before the clock strikes midnight.  Refresh us with the oil of your Spirit that our lamps might be full, and teach us how to trim the old and useless junk from our lives that we might burn brightly for you.

The Dash

   I confess, I love to wander through old cemeteries and look at the inscriptions on headstones.  To me graveyards are such peaceful places, my husband and I used to take our lunch breaks sitting in the cemetery eating our brown bag lunches and just watching the wind in the trees and the birds and squirrels playing there.  Sounds morbid doesn't it, but I find it relaxing and thought provoking. 
   Have you ever looked at the dates on the stones, birth - death, and wondered what happened in the between?  That little ' - ' in the middle inspired a thought I would like to share with you.
                           

                                                   The Dash

 

                                          Life is just a dash -

                                          A small mark scribed

                                            between birth and death.

                                          That space of time allowed

                                            to each of us in which

                                          To grow,

                                          To laugh,

                                          To love and be loved,

                                          To reach upward and

                                             outward,

                                          To touch and be touched,

                                          To accomplish things

                                             both great and small, 

                                          Then, when our dash is finished

                                          And we write no more,

                                          Just what will our dash proclaim?

 

You read inscriptions on those stones such as 'Faithful Friend' or 'Loving Mother' but the more important inscription just might be that little 'dash'.

 

Waiting...

Wait!  Don't you just love that four letter word?  Waiting, not our favorite thing to do.  Waiting takes up valuable moments and we have things to do, places to go, kingdoms to conquer and treasures to find.  Waiting, what a waste of our valuable time. Waiting,  I just don't have time for waiting.

Our pastor taught a great Bible Study one Wednesday evening on a topic that gives humans a really difficult time. The grammatical punctuation known as the 'Comma'. I remember a time in my journey through Junior High and High School when I used to sprinkle commas liberally through my writing. Of course, I always got those 'papers' back with about 85% of the commas circled in red and notated as 'not needed'.
 

The comma plays an important part in any written dissertation, telling us to pause. Sometimes that pause is required to consider what has already been said in relation to what is about to be disclosed.  Sometimes that comma simply says 'wait a moment'. 

Our lives sometimes have the same problem my high school essays suffered causing us to halt and stumble through life, making no progress because we are always waiting at a an unneeded comma. Sometimes our lives lack commas and thereby definition and form.  Without the occassional comma, a pause to think about what has gone before and what is to come, our lives run rampant without purpose or goals.  When we walk dependent upon God, He often answers our questions with a comma and we need to stop and listen before proceeding. God always answers though the answer may come with dependent conditions, commas, telling us to follow as He leads and He will provide and bless in His own time.

Isaiah 40:31  But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Psa. 27:14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

Hello again...it's been awhile since my last post and much has happened.  In July of last year my husband checked into the hospital with a mystery illness.  He had developed a cough that we all thought must be allergy related but had persisted beyond the allergy season.  The coughing had become more and more persistent and left him short winded and nauseated.  One afternoon I received a call from his employer saying that he was having chest pains and couldn't get his breath, I should take him to the emergency room.  So off to the emergency room we went and at 4:00 am in the morning he was admitted to the hospital for test.  His heart was fine but he was on oxygen.  After seven days in hospital, five of which were spent in an isolation negative pressure unit, we received a diagnosis of bacterial infection of the lung.  And so the fight began.  The bacteria was Mycobacterium avium intra-cellular or MAI, a soil born bacteria found in agricultural areas.  The infection was a rare occurence in the population but the bacteria relatively common.  He was placed on a regimen of heavy antibiotics which fought the infection but left him nauseated.  He had lost over 40 pounds since the first of the year and due to the nausea didn't have an appetite and couldn't recover any of his weight.  In October the doctor added an new medication, a highly toxic antibiotic infusion three times a week and finally in December he began to re-gain his weight.  Over the past year he has had one to three visits to the lab and to his doctors  each week and continues all of the meds and the infusions.  This past month he found out that the large cavities in his lungs, caused by the infection, had begun to shrink and his lab test indicate that the infection is defeated.  He will continue the meds and infusions for another year as a precautionary treatment.  Where his doctors at first thought that surgical removal of the lung might be necessary we are now well on the way to recovery and the surgical aspect is no longer necessary. 

God has been so good,  James only missed 5 days of work throught out this whole ordeal.  He is back at his pre-illness weight and on his way to recovering his energy and activity level.  We are giving God all the credit...without Him the doctors would have been unable to do this and we would be looking a open chest removal of his  lung.  We have proven God's faithfulness over the years as James was healed of cancer, recovered from a severe retinal detachment, and suffered from heart blockages without surgery.  God is our Healer, our Provider, our Salvation and the Lifter of our heads.   If you have a problem God has the solution and He is waiting on your invitation to act for you.   He suffered the stripes on His back for our healing.