My mother works at the same elementary school that my sister and I attended. One of the teachers there is a lovely lady, whose oldest daughter was a classmate of mine. They both came to the visitation when Dad passed. Dad had always kidded with everyone. This lady was a second grade teacher when I was a student there. Dad always told the kids that she was his second grade teacher too, even though she was younger than he was (kids aren't good at guessing ages, and always believed him). He even told my entire class that while accompanying me on a 2nd grade field trip.
Anyway, her husband Danny passed away suddenly from streptocaucal pneumonia, which is strep that turns to pneumonia (and no, I have no idea if that is spelled correctly). In a little country elementary school, she is the third lady to lose her husband since Christmas, all of whom I knew to one degree or another. One, named Ken (aka "Little Ope" to people who went to NHHS), died of cancer, Dad of heart, and Danny of strep. This was followed shortly by one of mom's best friends (who also works at this school) learning her mother had cirosis of the liver even though she has one drink of champagne at a New Years' party each year, and that's the only alchohol. Then the music teacher's mom died suddenly over the weekend. "What is going on here?" my mom asked in frustration.
Add into that my friend, that I was telling this to, whose car started having alternator problems, serpentine belt snapped, and started leaking coolant. His hours were cut back at work, his pregnant wife lost her job, and has been unable to find another. After all, no one is going to hire a very pregnant woman.
These may seem relatively small, but are fairly damaging to the people involved. Japan however, is large relative to... pretty much anything you want to compare it to.
Matthew 24:4-8
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
NIV
As Kyle Idleman pointed out, there is a funny thing about birth pains. As it gets closer to time, they get more frequent and more intense.
Jesus said no one knows the day and the hour when he would return, so don't even try to figure it out. But, we know that the time is getting closer, so be ready. Have you fully committed yourself to Jesus? Have you shared the gospel with those around you who haven't accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord? Who do you want with you in heaven? What have you done to get them there?
No comments:
Post a Comment