Like many of you I have been concerned & prayerful for the millions of people dealing with the latest hurricane. The death toll is toward 40 at this point. We had to deal with a little of the wrath of Ike here as well. 50 mph winds & some power outages are nothing compared to all the havoc in the gulf.

My primary purpose today, however, is not recapping Ike or the need for prayer. I can’t help but think of so many natural disasters & catastrophes in recent history. I don’t buy into the thought that it’s cyclical history, either. These events bear some serious thought. I’m no great bible scholar or purveyor of eschatology (end time studies) but I recognize sharp prophetic signs here pointing to an eminent “day of the Lord.”

While watching a Billy Graham special the other night I was moved by the life of Billy & his late bride, Ruth. Their entire life has been in encouraging people to be prepared to meet the Lord at life’s end & following His path while we walk here on earth. Each week I try to share a bit of encouragement with you & nudge you in that same way if you have something missing in your life.

Believe me, I’m no particular ‘saint’ or feel I have life all worked out in some tidy little package. On the contrary, I struggle daily to live right & keep the right focus on what really matters in this life.

I’ve quoted Dr. Graham on multiple occasions at funerals & the graveside of loved ones. “Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.” That’s intentional. We don’t just wander into heaven or a relationship with God. It’s serious business.

To that end, I want to share with you how important it is for you to know you are prepared. Space won’t permit me to share stories of 28 years of ministry & the untimely deaths I’ve encountered. It’s a challenge ministering to the mother of a kindergartener who unexpectedly dies in an accident, or to the parents of a vibrant young teen who died of brain cancer & so on… We’ve just got to be ready!

So, at the risk of sounding ‘preachy’ today, I just got to know: are you really ready to meet your Maker? Again, can’t tell you how many I’ve seen who left this life thinking they had so many more tomorrows. Don’t put off this decision any more if you don’t know.

If you do know where you’ll spend eternity & why, then I dare you to share that life saving knowledge with friends & family who just may not know. While this is definitely longer than the normal devotion, I’ve included some passages on the back to help in this important question of life’s final destination. Please check it out. They’re taken from a paraphrase bible (I occasionally use to cast a different light on a timeless message) called The Message. If you have any questions please contact me & we’ll find some answers.

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“There's nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They've all taken the wrong turn; they've all wandered down blind alleys. No one's living right; I can't find a single one. Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, Don't know the first thing about living with others. They never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.” Romans 3:10-20 The Message

“By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with Him, make us fit for Him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that He has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented Himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him.”
Romans 5:1-8 The Message

The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting Him to do it for you. That's salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between Him and me!" Romans 10:9-10 The Message

GOD HAS A PURPOSE- Life for you!
OUR PROBLEM- We’re separated sinners!
GOD HAS A PLAN- Jesus saves!
OUR RESPONSE-Give our life to Him in abandon.
What will your response be?