Number 11:  December 5, 2005

I am standing and praying on the brown sandy beach in Maui awaiting the sunrise. (It soon will be discovered that this beach is perfect for sunsets not sunrises.) It is dark and I hear someone or something coming down the beach toward me. If it were other parts of the world, I would have been concerned, but Maui? Sharks don’t usually walk on beaches, do they? The noise comes closer and closer, quicker and quicker. Finally the outline of a man walking on the beach is recognizable. We exchange pleasantries, and he is gone, continuing his walk down the beach.

I immediately think of the return of Christ; how he will come as a thief in the night. I marvel at the power that God has to raise the dead, at the speed of the event, and the fact that no one knows when it will transpire. Most people would probably wait until the last second to get their lives right with God. They may also do things knowing that there will be no earthly consequences.

I Thessalonians 5:1 and 2:

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

I Corinthians 15:51 and 52:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing, it is always a good time to be reminded that Christ is coming back. We will be given a new spiritual body like Christ received after God raised him from the dead. We will be rewarded for all that we have done in love. This is our hope. This is what keeps us motivated to stand for God. We need to be constantly reminded of his return, and we are to continue to remind others.

I Peter 3:15:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

II Corinthians 5:10:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.