Shakin' in Our Boots

by Brenda Black

Boot scoot boogie has a whole new meaning in the Missouri boot heel lately. The dirt beneath farmers' boots may seem a bit less steady with earthquakes rumbling below the surface. Sikeston, West Plains and Festus were all rocked this past month.

While Missouri trembles, so does another “M” state at the opposite end of the Missouri River where a 4.8 magnitude quake tickled Bozeman this week. Some will claim that an earthquake in Yellowstone National Park could awaken a volcano that could wipe out the planet. And a teeth-rattling tremor in the Midwest could take out bridges from K.C. to D.C.

Should all this news have us shaking in our boots?

Earthquakes are not rare in Missouri. In the past year, the earth moved 118 times in the Show Me State. I remember feeling my first rolling sensation about a year ago. The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is the culprit, but she hasn't really shifted significantly since the winter of 1811-12, when three earthquakes, estimated at magnitude 7.0 or greater occurred. Though the fault line has slumbered for a couple hundred years, there is no reason to think she could not rouse again. In fact, some predictions say it is bound to happen within the next 50 years.

The NMSZ, located in southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois, is the nation's most active seismic zone east of the Rocky Mountains. Over the entire course, nearly 200 earthquakes occur each year. Most go unnoticed, but should a big one rock the boot heel back on her spur, it could be felt half way across the nation. According to Central United States EarthquakeConsortium, “Earthquakes in the central or eastern United States effect much larger areas than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the western United States. For example, the San Francisco, California, earthquake of 1906 (magnitude 7.8) was felt 350 miles away in the middle of Nevada, whereas the New Madrid earthquake of December 1811 rang church bells in Boston, Massachusetts, 1,000 miles away. Differences in geology east and west of the Rocky Mountains cause this strong contrast.”

Just because we haven't felt the earth move under our feet, doesn't mean we won't. Just because the geysers in Wyoming haven't spewed hot lava, doesn't mean they can't. But just because disaster is always a shake away, doesn't mean we have to live in dread or fear.

"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will fain from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:25-28)."

The best advice I've ever received came from a very wise woman and seems most applicable here. “Be prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.” Isn't that the Christian's perfect plan? Know where you're going by knowing the Lord. And know that the destiny is perfectly unshakeable.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved (Romans 8:22-24a)."

Be prepared. Be filled with peace. Be hopeful. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our god is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29)."

That's all we can really do since we are not the center of the universe.

Ready, Set, Go!

By Brenda Black

What do you have planned for the weekend? For a solid week we've been gravitating to graduations, celebrating accomplishments of Kindergartners through college students with cake and cookies, beef and banquets, baccalaureates and lots of cards stuffed with cash. And the revelry and milestone moments just keep coming. As a matter of fact, I have events scheduled through the first week of June that have to do with graduations. That is if I'm here to attend them.

According to eBible Fellowship, I may not be available past May 21, 2011, the day their scholars have determined is the day believers in Christ will leave this earth. Whether you think them quacks or right on track is irrelevant. If they are wrong, it is still just a matter of time before the Lord returns in judgment. But if they are correct in their biblically formulated math equation, a great day of reckoning is mere hours away. Are you ready?

I've heard the rally cries multiple times in my life and typically dismissed them. Oh, I can remember back when there were 88 reasons why the Lord was going to come in 1988. And I got a bit stirred up. But this time I'm filled more with anticipation and the thrill that this could be the day rather than fear or worry that I had more I wanted to do while on this planet. I knew the Lord back then, but now I am more in love with my Savior than ever before and I am ready to see Him. I long to be free of the wicked ways of this world and rescued from disease and sorrow. I can't wait to see friends and family already in heaven. They'll be waving me across that River of Life and I'll come out of the water, soaking wet in paradise where I'll hug their necks! I'm ready!

To come to a place of such acceptance is only by the grace of the One who makes it possible to enter into salvation. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) I'm ready because I'm redeemed. My mind is set, my heart is set, my eyes are fixed on the prize. Like Paul penned in 2 Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Do you long for His return? Are you ready? Are you set? Then who would you not want to leave behind if you are going so quickly?

I've known tiny infants to elderly saints who have already departed – some without warning, after suffering long bouts of illness and some suddenly just ended. Time is always of the essence. If this Saturday is the day we are catapulted into eternity, then what do we have to lose by sharing our faith and offering such a great escape to those who would otherwise be bound by chains for the rest of their days. And if this Saturday passes by without incident, the call is no less important. For there will come a day of reckoning. Go tell those you know and those you love and those you've just met that Jesus is Lord and Savior and Judge. Be about your Father's business every day you live so that others may know God is real and He has made great changes in your life. Show them the Way, the Truth and the Life.

It doesn't take hundreds of years of study to calculate the end result. Whenever it happens, it will happen in an instant so we just better be ready to go. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) And in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, we are told again, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

Get ready! Get set! Go!

Two Years to the End

Two Years to the End
By Brenda Black

Chicken Little couldn't hold a candle to throngs who wail the sky will fall in 2012. Movies abound concerning the end of time on planet earth, derived from secular, Christian, New Age, Indian folk lore and Nostradamus concepts. Though socially and religiously as different as the beginning is to the end, many of these diverse groups have cinematic productions that share the belief that something monumental will happen in December of 2012. That leaves us just two years!

Certainly prophets and lunatics, evangelists and scientists have predicted the end of the world since it's inception. Whether the final curtain falls in 2012 or not is not the question. The question is are you ready to meet your Maker. If people spent more time living today as if there were no tomorrow, our world wouldn't be in such a hullabaloo over dates and disasters.

Think of it this way: If you knew without a shadow of a doubt that you had only two years left in your life, how would you live it? Would matters we spend so much time mulling over truly matter? Would we contribute strife if we had limited time to make a difference with our lives? Would we revel in nonsense rather than hunger for insight? Would we dwell on the temporary or contemplate eternity?

I believe eternity will arrive right on time. And I intend to be ready! Whether it comes in the middle of this night or two years from now; five weeks or three decades into the future is of no concern to the signed, sealed and ready-to-be-delivered believers of Christ Jesus. My Chicken Little cry is victory for the saved and warning to the lost. “I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2c)

If nothing else comes of the doomsday herald, at least folks are facing their own mortality. One website devoted to highlighting big-screen buzz put it this way: “We believe that the upcoming movies about 2012 will bring a new level of awareness of topics that ordinary people haven't explored, but esoteric and mystical people have been aware of for centuries.” (www.2012movie.org)

I don't think special interest groups have a corner on the topic since believers of Christ have been anticipating the Day of His Return since the hour Christ departed. The Holy Bible addresses end times without setting specific dates. Still, God's Word provides ample commentary on the topic over which the Lord Almighty has complete authority. Jesus specifically instructed his disciples on the matter.

“He replied: 'Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am he,” and “The time is near.” Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.'

“Then he said to them: 'Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven...

“'There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your head, because your redemption is drawing near.'” (Luke 21:8-11, 25-28)

You see, it doesn't matter when the end. It does matter who you know and how well you trust in the One who holds the keys to eternity. “'Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.'” (Revelation 22:12-13)

Don't live in fear even when the earth seems at its worst. Live by faith that in the end, those who follow Christ, leave heartache and disaster to dwell in glorious paradise.

“Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'Peace and safety,' destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

“But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

Don't live for 2012, live each day of 2010 as if it were the end.