Ponderings....

Because we have become so familiar with the story of Jesus' last week on this planet before His resurrection, we can be lulled into a sort of complacency when it comes to the time we are currently living in. Let's take a different approach for just a moment. Let's try to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus' disciples:

They'd been with him day in and day out for three solid years. He'd taught them truths of the Kingdom, including the fact that he would be handed over to the authorities, beaten, mocked, hung on a tree, and then, three days later, he would rise from the dead. I sometimes wonder if in their heart of hearts, most of the disciples listened to Jesus and sort of shook their heads and beneath their breaths whispered something like, "Yea, sure, Jesus; that's not 'really' how it's going to happen because you are far to important and what we've got going here is huge, so this catastrophic stuff you are talking about can't really happen. We'll figure this out and everything will work out just fine!"

Suddenly, in the midst of prayer in a quiet place on a mountain side in an olive grove, troops arrive with swords in hand and torches. The disciples' worlds were turned upside-down (even in spite of Jesus' repeated warnings) and most of them fled in fear. Their lives as they knew them up to that point were transformed in an instant, and everything they knew to be true appeared to be twisted around and against them...even in spite of Jesus' gentle instructions all along. Quite literally, their lives would never be the same, and they never were.

After fleeing, they hide away, and when confronted by the loving, living, resurrected Jesus, life would never be the same! It was glorious and gut-wrenching all at the same time. One day highly regarded and the next hunted down to be killed. Sometimes living in plenty and other times in want, but never forsaken.

Gee, today things are not much different, and in fact, I propose that we are on the brink of such a cataclysmic change in our lives and society, on nearly the same level, albeit different in many ways too, as that time in history. Life has been pretty good for most of us in the U.S. and developed parts of the world for decades, and it's only in the last decade, and especially in the last 4 years, that the crumbling has begun. Now we are seeing signs of serious crumbling, serious collapse, not just here but world-wide. Lest I be a doom-sayer, which I never want to be, let's focus on the end of the story back then and now.

Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave, defeating death forever and making a way for every person to enter into Kingdom reality forever! Hallelujah! That same Jesus is coming back to rule and to reign with His church! Hallelujah! Back then, there were three full days of challenge and despair. And because a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day according to the Bible, are we not in our "three days" of challenge? What does it mean for us, the bride of Christ, as we look to the one who promised never to leave us or forsake us?

Well, we can, like some people back then, put our heads in the sand and not face reality, thinking we're just fine and life continues as usual. Or we can worry and fret, wondering and becoming anxious. Or, we can use the God-given wisdom we have been given and are being given daily and prepare our hearts, minds, bodies and lives for those very challenging "three days" during which many will be offended, and others will shine like stars in the night, bringing hope and life to everyone around them.

Life is not normal these days...we all know that; so what will you do? To whom will you turn? In whom do you trust? The Faithful One will never fail you; listen to what He is whispering to your heart in this season, and obey without hesitation!