For Those Who Tune Us Out

I’ve warned family and friends so much about what’s happening in the world and the soon-coming rapture that most avoid me or tune me out. Can you relate? I can’t help but wonder how Noah kept warning and preaching all those years when just my small efforts have left me feeling beaten down and defeated. Lot, on the other hand, found out and took off in the same day of the city’s destruction. If you look at it from the sake of ease, Lot had the better deal than Noah. We can’t want Lot’s lot (sorry, I had to go there) and hope for ease. In that case, if we were to be warned and removed in the same day of the rapture, then our loved ones wouldn’t have our nagging voices in their heads, and our homes wouldn’t be filled with help and encouragement for the left behind.

So we, for an undetermined period of time, are stuck with Noah’s lot, trying to warn those who tune us out. Like Noah, we are to watch and wait and warn. If I’m honest, though, I’m far from being like Noah. I’m watching and waiting for Jesus every day, but I find my warnings have been waning, especially this past year.

I don’t get out much since I write from home. Other than grocery store runs and the same two or three restaurants I frequent, I don’t have occasion to interact with people as often as most, so it’s difficult to build a relationship with someone which would allow me to warn about the rapture. Sure, I could blurt it out while the check-out person does their beep, beep, beep scanning of my food, but that will only paint me as a lunatic. People are kind of funny about getting world news from a lunatic, so I hold back. I find myself frustrated that the world as we know it will soon tragically change, and I have no outlet for that information. Can you relate to that too? Continue Reading…

Hi Gathering Family,

I hope you’ve enjoyed the topic of embracing your design. This week, we will move into part two where you will take an introspective look at how God has uniquely designed you to determine how you might make an impact here at the end of the world as we know it. Continue reading →

Ready for some more heavenly hope? If you missed the first installment of this topic, you can find the Rapture Ready article here: “Heavenly Hope.” We rapture watchers sure do need an ample dose of hope most days to keep us hanging on. If you’re anything like me, you thought we would be outta here by now. While the world goes crazier than we ever thought we would see and attacks on us and our families only intensify, many of us are becoming battle weary and experiencing deep despair. Some days and some seasons, it all simply becomes too much to handle, our hope wanes, and we try our best to escape the battlefield.

Bad news alert: It’s only going to get worse. There’s not much I see on the horizon in the way of relief other than Jesus. The closer the devil gets to his foretold end, the more his demonic activity is going to ramp up and his attacks intensify. My family and your family are targets and will remain in the enemy’s crosshairs. Without hope, how are we to stand firm? The loss of hope can turn catastrophic in the life of a believer and allow the devil’s predictable opposition to become unforeseen oppression. We noted in the previous installment how opposition stands in our way, but is surmountable, whereas oppression stands on our head and sits us down. Continue reading…