We are still here.  This simple statement is taking more than a few people by surprise.  A well publicized rapture failed to take place on Saturday.  I am glad of this since my daughter was able to wear her new dress to prom.  Believers were to be taken out of this world somewhere late in the afternoon on May 21.  CNN was live with their newscast but announced no sign of mass disappearances.  My yard work will not be enjoyed by others since the event never happened.  I just read now that the man who made the original prediction pushed it back five months to October.  Are you kidding me?  Why on earth do we ever try to make any pronouncement on dates that God says are under wraps?  Nowhere does it say we must be ignorant of signs but we are warned against setting dates for such moments.  Some people never learn.

We just continue being amazed at horrific disasters across the world.  Our tendency is to tie these to some aspect of final judgement.  I stayed in Joplin, Missouri about fifteen years ago while traveling to Kansas City.  My purpose was to attend a doctoral seminar for a few days.  My daughter and I watched the news this evening about yesterday's tornado there.  Much of that small city is now gone.  It was an earthquake that led the news cycle awhile back.  Before that was a tsunami or other natural disaster.  Seems to me that there is almost a disaster of the month taking place in our world.  Some of our more liberal friends place the blame squarely on global warming as the root of this evil.  Believers are wondering if there is a divine message in all of this.  My response is a definite maybe.  Let me explain.

Do not get me wrong.  We have plenty of biblical examples of God doing the drastic to gain the attention of people.  Much of this can be found in the Old Testament when the people of God just drifted away from the faith.  God will relate through His prophets about how calamities connect to spiritual life.  We also know that the final book of Revelation contains more examples of how God uses disasters to urge repentance.  Our understanding may be limited into these mysteries but they do occur.  Let me just speak for myself here.  I am a bit hesitant in labeling any or every disaster as an act of judgement.  This does not mean there are not elements of divine purpose but that my humility wants to allow God to act freely without my bias.  Making big announcements of judgement may be easy but it is not simple.

Do we really want to say that God was mad at Joplin last night?  Innocent lives were lost in that tremendous storm.  What about earthquakes or tsunamis?  People who perhaps are believers in Jesus were affected in negative ways by this.  Let me again try to be clear.  My theology does not leave room for random accidents.  But those of us who survive tragedy are not left to pass judgement but to gain a clear view of God in all of life.  The hurricane that submerged New Orleans opened doors for God's people to do real ministry.  Third world countries who add disaster to their load of ongoing suffering can experience real compassion from those who know God.  Horrible things do happen in this world through nature.  Maybe our response is not just to get interested in calculating dates but getting involved in helping others.  We do indeed know this life has its limits.  We can get a new discernment that our God is not to be taken lightly.  We are called to be always ready for whatever judgement may come.  He wants to have our attention upon Him as long as we respond out of grace. 

No doubt that this post is probably trying to have it both ways.  Maybe that is just how our limited understanding moves us.  We do not know all that God is doing in terms of judgement and the like.  We can be ready to either go with Him or give of ourselves to those shaken by disasters.  Let's just leave the predicting and the pronouncement aspect out of the equation.  God will do far better than we. 

Bro. Trey