Caught Up

One of my favorite things to do as I was growing up was to hang out with my friends. It didn't matter much what we were doing, just as long as we were together. It's funny to me now the things that I remember from my youth ... some really important things I've forgotten, while some little things are as clear in my mind as if they had happened just yesterday. I don't really remember anything about my high school or college graduation ceremonies, but I do remember building forts in the woods, selling lemonade on the driveway, riding motorcycles and playing tennis with my friends. I remember football games, spring break trips to the beach and deep and meaningful conversations that went on for hours. I think one of the greatest things about the time of my youth was how easy it was for me to get caught up in the moment ... to simply enjoy whatever was going on at the time with no worries and very few responsibilities.

All day yesterday I couldn't get the idea of being caught up in something out of my head. Several of my co-workers were talking about the guy who has declared that the Rapture will happen this coming Saturday, May 21. The man took out an ad in Reader's Digest proclaiming the end of the world and plastered the message on 2,200 billboards across the country. I work at an advertising agency, and I heard one fellow in my office yesterday say, "The Rapture guy is a public relations genius. Sheer genius." While most folks are writing off the man's prediction as utter nonsense, there are others who have become completely caught up in the possibility that the world as we know it will end on Saturday. Some are frightened, some are sad, some are getting their hearts right with God just in case the guy is right.

God's Word plainly tells us, however, that no one knows the hour or day of Christ's calling home of His bride the church. His Word tells us that the Rapture will happen like a thief coming in the night. And yet, people are completely caught up in this man's prediction ... whether they believe him or not, they are caught up in the media hoopla surrounding the chance that come Saturday, millions of people are gonna disappear and the tribulation will be ushered in. Caught up ... caught up ... I've been thinking a lot this week about those words.

The truth is that one day the Rapture will happen ... one day believers will be "caught up" for sure. One day, God's Word states that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Did you catch the awesomeness of that statement? One day, every soul that was ever knit together in a mother's womb will bow at the feet of Jesus Christ, God's only Son, and proclaim that He is Lord. Whether through death or through the Rapture, we will all bow before Jesus ... one day. That day could be before I draw my next breath ... it could be before night falls tonight ... it could be at any moment of any day ... but only God the Father knows ... not me, not you, not the Rapture guy of this week's news.

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Matthew 24: 36

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18 

Amen, Lord, amen. Come quickly, come quickly.