32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[a]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
Mark 13:32-36 NIV
After a crazy year my family has been prepping the last few weeks to go to Disney World! We made shirts to be cute (because that’s what people do at Disney), pulled our luggage down from the attic, mowed our lawn, found someone to feed the cats, prepped the worship team for two weeks of worship and six worship services, and did millions of other little things that we needed to get out of town. If you have a family, you know how hard preparation for a trip like this is!
Yet, all along the way, these verses and the preparation we should be doing for Christ’s second coming have been on my mind. We had a date for our trip on the calendar. My cousin and e mail alerts from Disney advised us about what we needed to be doing in preparation. We read articles online about how to prepare and had lots of conversations about what was most important to us when we got there. As the day has approached and excitement raised, we have found ourselves sleeping less and prepping more each day leading to our departure. The last two days were almost completely devoted to Disney prep.
The preparation we do for Christ’s coming should be similar to preparing for a journey. We don’t have a date, but we should be reading the Biblical alerts God has given us. We should be talking to God and others regularly about what should be important to us as co-laborers in God’s kingdom. We should seek out the guidance of others who have experience as followers of Jesus. We should be figuratively awake as each passing day brings us closer to His return and each day, more and more of our time should be taken up by Kingdom work as the reality of Christ’s return sets into our lives. Preparation should be happening continuously. If we had the date of Christ’s return, we would just wait until the last minute and try to frantically do all the stuff we should have been doing all along.
So, how are you preparing for Christ’s coming? When the day comes, will you be awake?
We hope to see you at our various activities this Summer and of course on Sundays as we prepare together for the great vacation we have awaiting for us in Christ!
Dear God,
Thank you for vacations and time to get away. Thank you for things in our lives that remind us of you. Help us to prepare for your coming in an even greater manner than we prepare for a big trip. Help us to live as co-laborers in your kingdom each day, growing in you and in our relationship with others as we share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world.
Amen!
Pastor Ray is the Pastor of Worship and Administration at FBC Weslaco. As of this writing, no children had been harmed in preparation for their family vacation.