Things were going along so well

          Things were going along so well. I was returning from a family vacation and had a great time. The house had been locked up so tight it was like an oven when we returned causing the refrigerator to burn up. Food remnants discarded, a new refrigerator was quickly in place. Things were going so well then the very next morning my mother had a stroke. Things were returning to a semblance of normaility, going along fairly well and then one week later my dad had a stroke.  True story. Honestly, never ask what could happen next.

        Famous last words, "things were going along just fine..."  We all have our own versions, some worse than others perhaps. It might involve a kid getting sick, the car breaking down, someone dying, a cancer diagnosis just when things were .... going along so well. You can fill in your own blanks, we all have a story to tell. Why one-up each other?  The point is it happens to all of us, that's life.

         What we don't all have in common is whether we are people of light or people of the dark.  Being a follower of Christ or being one with God, there is a calmness and a sense of over riding peace no matter what happens. It seems odd to many, but people of faith know where their foundation is laid and it's not in the shifting sands of this world. It's not that you don't struggle but you have hope  and it is not coming in the form of the latest i-phone. In fact, the more your hope seems to be placed on material things, the more disappointed you may be when things 'happen'. 

         

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved,are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.