Y'all better hunker down, now!!

Fear hit the plains of Auburn, AL yesterday - all sorts of "regular" people could be found doing strange things.  Some motivated by the sheer fear instilled in us by the channel 12 news team - others out of their civil "hunkering down" duty - while others just caught up in the moment, or in the "crowd" psychology - either way - by the time I made it to Publix at about 4 PM - the wall of batteries was sparse, and buggies were full of whatever sort of bottled water and canned goods people could get their hands on.  Nope - none of us Alabamians have a clue what to do in an "ice storm" and this one was going to be "bad."  Schools and businesses (except J&M Bookstore) are closed.  Most people in Auburn, AL are praising the Lord for such conditions - as our team, the Auburn Tigers are playing in the BCS Championship game this evening - and such weather allows for pre-game festivities, and this is a serious matter around these parts.

So, here's our ice storm:

Today, it really is freezing outside, and we should all take to the roads with caution - but I don't know if closing schools and hunkering down were necessary?  Anyways, I don't know if the storm got us all thinking, or if the Lord simultaeously prompted all our hearts - but conversation at dinner last night was about "doomsday"- i.e. Nostradamus and the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the World, and even the sermon at church was about being ready for Christ's return, entitled, "Ready?"

So, the world may be ending here in Auburn - but when I flipped on the Today show this morning - the rest of the World seems to be fine - so I am feeling optimistic about it all!  Having some time to think about preparing for the Lord to come back - I began to contemplate whether it is right to motivate "readiness" by instilling fear on believers? So, digging into the TRUTH: We do not know when He is coming (Matt 24:36) - but in Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about how we will feel if we are excluded from Heaven - shamed.  So - I think its a balance - we should not get "ready" out of fear - but we should know the facts - that Jesus is coming back and we do need to be "ready" ALL the time.  

So, how to we get ready?  We follow God's commandments - He says to COME, to WAIT, to REST, to have FAITH, and TRUST HIM ALONE.  None of these things elicit specific actions - but each one calls us to open our hearts and minds to God's leading.  I don't think we can "ready" ourselves - but I believe we can choose to allow God to prepare our hearts.

And just for fun - I don't see Jesus coming back in an ice storm - I see him coming back on a glorious sunset, more to the likes of these:

But, I guess we'll see...