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I begin to run
Mountains and cliffs rise above me
I climb them
Streams and ravines cut through the land
I cross them
My muscles burn
I run faster
My feet ache
I run on
Sometimes I stumble
I get back up
I lose my way
I correct my course
I pass the finish
I stop
I begin to run again
No obstacles rise above me
I run free
I no longer have pain
I run quicker
I am running through open fields
The eternal race goes on
*********
Author's note: Life is a race, we run into problems, but the race goes on. One day we will die, and the race will end. But then we will begin the easy, painless, unstrained, eternal race of heaven.
{Written by my oldest son, Rocklan McCall. Age: 11}
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Like A Thief In The Night
They were warned but they were not ready. They knew it was coming. One could easily argue that it was, for the most part, public knowledge that the threat was looming before them but life continued as if it would never happen. However, it did happen and it happened in a big way. The world was rocked Tuesday as a devastating earthquake suddenly struck the nation of Haiti. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded there and its epicenter was situated very close to the densely populated capital city. The results of the massive quake are horrific. All day long the press reports and photos have been streaming out of that Island nation and they tell a tragic story of death and destruction.
Scientists have warned for years that the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, was at risk for a major earthquake. But I was intrigued today by a CNN article that shared the fact that less than two years ago five scientists presented a paper during the 18th Caribbean Geological Conference, stating that the fault zone on the south side of the island posed "a major seismic hazard." Their findings followed a study in which two geologists found a heightened earthquake risk along the fault zone. "This is seismically a very active area of the world," one of the geologists, said. "Geologists should not be surprised by this earthquake."
Indeed, few were surprised that the earthquake occurred but the tragedy is that even fewer were ready for it or, in all reality, were even expecting it. The problem wasn’t the nature of the warning. It was specific enough. The problem wasn’t the timing of the warning. It was recent enough. The problem wasn’t the validity of the warning. It was substantially validated by the data available. The problem was the nature of the event. One geologist explained that it can take hundreds of years for the threat to manifest itself, making it incredibly difficult to predict the timing of an earthquake.
The problem was that they had all heard this warning many times before and, though it had often been forecast, it had been over 60 years since the region had seen a significant earthquake and hundreds of years since one has actually struck in this particular vicinity. So people did what people do, they processed the warning, recognized the threat it forecast and quickly returned to life as normal. They knew it was possible, they knew it could happen at any moment but they were predisposed to believe that, because it hadn’t happened yet it wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon. Somewhere within the psychological make up of humanity there exists a bias towards the normal, the belief that things will always be as things have always been.
Peter introduces us to the same line of thought regarding the Second Coming of the Lord. In the last days, he says in 2 Peter 3:3, there shall come scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Right up to the rapture of the church there will be that feeling that, because it never has happened before, it isn’t going to happen any time soon. Right up to the very moment that the trumpet sounds, human reasoning will be saying nearly 2,000 years have passed since he said, “I come quickly.” Surely, this won’t be the day.
Peter calls them scoffers. A scoffer is someone who treats lightly that which ought to be taken seriously. When Noah began to build his ark and preach the message that God had given him, they scoffed then as well. Noah was a preacher of righteousness; no doubt he called men to repentance. But the idea of judgment seemed far-fetched and rain was a concept that was hard to grasp. It had never happened before. Nobody had ever seen such a thing. The human bias for normalcy kicked in. Things will always be as things have always been. So they mocked him. They scoffed at him. Some literal translations render scoffers as “mockers with mockery.” They rejected the truth, they failed to heed the warning, they ignored the preacher and they buried any hint of conviction under the heavy-handed humor of mockery. And in all of their bravado they sacrificed truth on the altar of public opinion. They scoffed and mocked because they weren't willing to make the change that wold have been required if they had accepted the message of Moses at face value.
There are those that shrug off the announcement that the Lord is soon to return because it has been such a long time and he hasn’t come back yet. But Peter points out the fallacy in this kind of thinking. He says in verse nine that the Lord isn’t slack concerning his promises, he’s just longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Some have interpreted God’s patience as a leniency towards sin. God hasn’t delayed his coming to embolden sinners. God has provided time to give every opportunity for men to repent! God hasn’t held back judgment and wrath because he’s soft on sin, God has held back judgment because of His great mercy.
This perceived delay of God is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan. He doesn’t move according to man’s timetable and he isn’t influenced by cultures that mock him or governments that ignore him. He has a plan. He set it into motion before he ever laid the foundations of the earth. And he will bring his plan to pass in his due time. Meanwhile those that aren’t yet ready to repent, scoff at the coming of the Lord. They treat lightly that which should be treated seriously. They ignore it, as if by failing to acknowledge it they somehow can escape it. But those who hear the call of mercy and are moved by the love of God, take advantage of the patience of God and find a place of repentance.
The church stands somewhere between the scoffers and the repentant and, I believe that the church is in a very precarious position. If we aren’t careful we will be lulled into a sense of complacency by the very patience of God that has given us an opportunity to reach a lost world before its too late. If we aren’t careful the same cavalier spirit that has gripped the world will grip our minds also causing us to adopt a mindset that allows us to live as if his return is some distant thing. We must be vigilant. We must remain ready. This is and always has been the posture of the church. The church is forever embodied in the image of Israel on that first Passover night – partaking of the lamb while fully clothed and ready to go! We are to live our lives in a constant state of readiness. His coming will take this world by surprise. But, to the church, it should come as no surprise. We are admonished over and over again in scripture to watch, to be ready, to anticipate the return of the Lord.
This is why the parable of the 10 virgins is in scripture. Its not there as a warning to the lost. Its there as a warning to the church. Its there to put forth the fact that it is possible to sit on a church pew, be faithful in attendance, to look right on the outside and appear right in word and deed but be lulled to sleep and lose out with God. The truth of that parable is that there will be some that thought that they were a party of the wedding party but will discover too late that they have allowed the fire to burn out. I don’t want to be among that number and I don’t want any in this church to be either! We must be ready! You must make sure you are ready. Don’t be complacent about it. Make sure, every day of your life, that you are ready to meet the Lord!
There is a spirit of complacency that would seek to find its way into the church. An attitude that treats serious things lightly and makes a mockery of the things of God. This cavalier spirit is the same spirit that produces the attitude that the return of the Lord is a far distant thing. We simply can’t afford to give place to that spirit in our lives. The absolute truth is that each of us must be ready for the coming of the Lord every day of our lives.
I can’t tell you when he’s returning. No man knows the day nor the hour. However I can tell you that some will meet him long before he returns. For somebody, today was that day of judgment. For thousands of souls in Haiti, Tuesday was that day. The crux of the matter is that I must be ready at all times because I have no guarantee that I will ever see tomorrow! I must live my life as if this is the last day I will ever have and I simply MUST be ready for the coming of the Lord!
The May 1984 National Geographic showed through color photos and drawings the swift and terrible destruction that wiped out the Roman Cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden, the residents were killed while in their routine: men and women were at the market, the rich in their luxurious baths, slaves at toil. They died amid volcanic ash and superheated gasses. Even family pets suffered the same quick and final fate. It takes little imagination to picture the panic of that terrible day.
The saddest part is that these people did not have to die. Scientists confirm what ancient Roman writers record--weeks of rumblings and shakings preceded the actual explosion. Even an ominous plume of smoke was clearly visible from the mountain days before the eruption. If only they had been able to read and respond to the warning! I have no doubt that the same cavalier attitude gripped the people in those doomed cities then as the spirit that has gripped our world and has tried to make inroads into the church. The seductive reasoning that compels people to ignore the danger signs and warnings and continue on as if nothing will ever change.
This is one preacher who will stand before you and declare that it’s all going to change someday. And that day is going to come to some sooner than it comes to others. In light of that fact we owe it to ourselves to search ourselves in the presence of God. We owe it to ourselves to find our way to an altar and insure the condition of our souls. God is not slack concerning his promises, but he is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Don’t let the patience of God be in vain…
Scientists have warned for years that the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, was at risk for a major earthquake. But I was intrigued today by a CNN article that shared the fact that less than two years ago five scientists presented a paper during the 18th Caribbean Geological Conference, stating that the fault zone on the south side of the island posed "a major seismic hazard." Their findings followed a study in which two geologists found a heightened earthquake risk along the fault zone. "This is seismically a very active area of the world," one of the geologists, said. "Geologists should not be surprised by this earthquake."
Indeed, few were surprised that the earthquake occurred but the tragedy is that even fewer were ready for it or, in all reality, were even expecting it. The problem wasn’t the nature of the warning. It was specific enough. The problem wasn’t the timing of the warning. It was recent enough. The problem wasn’t the validity of the warning. It was substantially validated by the data available. The problem was the nature of the event. One geologist explained that it can take hundreds of years for the threat to manifest itself, making it incredibly difficult to predict the timing of an earthquake.
The problem was that they had all heard this warning many times before and, though it had often been forecast, it had been over 60 years since the region had seen a significant earthquake and hundreds of years since one has actually struck in this particular vicinity. So people did what people do, they processed the warning, recognized the threat it forecast and quickly returned to life as normal. They knew it was possible, they knew it could happen at any moment but they were predisposed to believe that, because it hadn’t happened yet it wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon. Somewhere within the psychological make up of humanity there exists a bias towards the normal, the belief that things will always be as things have always been.
Peter introduces us to the same line of thought regarding the Second Coming of the Lord. In the last days, he says in 2 Peter 3:3, there shall come scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Right up to the rapture of the church there will be that feeling that, because it never has happened before, it isn’t going to happen any time soon. Right up to the very moment that the trumpet sounds, human reasoning will be saying nearly 2,000 years have passed since he said, “I come quickly.” Surely, this won’t be the day.
Peter calls them scoffers. A scoffer is someone who treats lightly that which ought to be taken seriously. When Noah began to build his ark and preach the message that God had given him, they scoffed then as well. Noah was a preacher of righteousness; no doubt he called men to repentance. But the idea of judgment seemed far-fetched and rain was a concept that was hard to grasp. It had never happened before. Nobody had ever seen such a thing. The human bias for normalcy kicked in. Things will always be as things have always been. So they mocked him. They scoffed at him. Some literal translations render scoffers as “mockers with mockery.” They rejected the truth, they failed to heed the warning, they ignored the preacher and they buried any hint of conviction under the heavy-handed humor of mockery. And in all of their bravado they sacrificed truth on the altar of public opinion. They scoffed and mocked because they weren't willing to make the change that wold have been required if they had accepted the message of Moses at face value.
There are those that shrug off the announcement that the Lord is soon to return because it has been such a long time and he hasn’t come back yet. But Peter points out the fallacy in this kind of thinking. He says in verse nine that the Lord isn’t slack concerning his promises, he’s just longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Some have interpreted God’s patience as a leniency towards sin. God hasn’t delayed his coming to embolden sinners. God has provided time to give every opportunity for men to repent! God hasn’t held back judgment and wrath because he’s soft on sin, God has held back judgment because of His great mercy.
This perceived delay of God is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan. He doesn’t move according to man’s timetable and he isn’t influenced by cultures that mock him or governments that ignore him. He has a plan. He set it into motion before he ever laid the foundations of the earth. And he will bring his plan to pass in his due time. Meanwhile those that aren’t yet ready to repent, scoff at the coming of the Lord. They treat lightly that which should be treated seriously. They ignore it, as if by failing to acknowledge it they somehow can escape it. But those who hear the call of mercy and are moved by the love of God, take advantage of the patience of God and find a place of repentance.
The church stands somewhere between the scoffers and the repentant and, I believe that the church is in a very precarious position. If we aren’t careful we will be lulled into a sense of complacency by the very patience of God that has given us an opportunity to reach a lost world before its too late. If we aren’t careful the same cavalier spirit that has gripped the world will grip our minds also causing us to adopt a mindset that allows us to live as if his return is some distant thing. We must be vigilant. We must remain ready. This is and always has been the posture of the church. The church is forever embodied in the image of Israel on that first Passover night – partaking of the lamb while fully clothed and ready to go! We are to live our lives in a constant state of readiness. His coming will take this world by surprise. But, to the church, it should come as no surprise. We are admonished over and over again in scripture to watch, to be ready, to anticipate the return of the Lord.
This is why the parable of the 10 virgins is in scripture. Its not there as a warning to the lost. Its there as a warning to the church. Its there to put forth the fact that it is possible to sit on a church pew, be faithful in attendance, to look right on the outside and appear right in word and deed but be lulled to sleep and lose out with God. The truth of that parable is that there will be some that thought that they were a party of the wedding party but will discover too late that they have allowed the fire to burn out. I don’t want to be among that number and I don’t want any in this church to be either! We must be ready! You must make sure you are ready. Don’t be complacent about it. Make sure, every day of your life, that you are ready to meet the Lord!
There is a spirit of complacency that would seek to find its way into the church. An attitude that treats serious things lightly and makes a mockery of the things of God. This cavalier spirit is the same spirit that produces the attitude that the return of the Lord is a far distant thing. We simply can’t afford to give place to that spirit in our lives. The absolute truth is that each of us must be ready for the coming of the Lord every day of our lives.
I can’t tell you when he’s returning. No man knows the day nor the hour. However I can tell you that some will meet him long before he returns. For somebody, today was that day of judgment. For thousands of souls in Haiti, Tuesday was that day. The crux of the matter is that I must be ready at all times because I have no guarantee that I will ever see tomorrow! I must live my life as if this is the last day I will ever have and I simply MUST be ready for the coming of the Lord!
The May 1984 National Geographic showed through color photos and drawings the swift and terrible destruction that wiped out the Roman Cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden, the residents were killed while in their routine: men and women were at the market, the rich in their luxurious baths, slaves at toil. They died amid volcanic ash and superheated gasses. Even family pets suffered the same quick and final fate. It takes little imagination to picture the panic of that terrible day.
The saddest part is that these people did not have to die. Scientists confirm what ancient Roman writers record--weeks of rumblings and shakings preceded the actual explosion. Even an ominous plume of smoke was clearly visible from the mountain days before the eruption. If only they had been able to read and respond to the warning! I have no doubt that the same cavalier attitude gripped the people in those doomed cities then as the spirit that has gripped our world and has tried to make inroads into the church. The seductive reasoning that compels people to ignore the danger signs and warnings and continue on as if nothing will ever change.
This is one preacher who will stand before you and declare that it’s all going to change someday. And that day is going to come to some sooner than it comes to others. In light of that fact we owe it to ourselves to search ourselves in the presence of God. We owe it to ourselves to find our way to an altar and insure the condition of our souls. God is not slack concerning his promises, but he is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Don’t let the patience of God be in vain…
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