Tornado.  Twister.  Funnel cloud.  They all mean one thing – immense destruction, and perhaps death.  In April of 2011, tornadoes twirled their way through the US like cotton candy in the making.  There was much devastation even in our area of the country; an area that really doesn’t often have these kinds of storms.  Many lives were taken, homes were flattened, and communities were drawn together in an effort to recover what was taken away in just minutes of the tornadoes wrath. 

I don’t believe those well-dressed newsmen who give polished reports of tomorrow’s forecast were really taken too seriously – until the tornadoes of 2011 struck our area last year.  Now folks take heed when they hear the words Tornado watch or warning in the middle of the weather report.  That truth was very evident just last Friday.  The weather forecast on The Weather Channel said that “tornadoes were likely in the evening.”  It didn’t just say we might have severe storms.  No, they said tornadoes are coming.  It was as though as sure as we were going to have rain, a tornado would also be coming our way.  Folks didn’t yawn at this forecast.  Schools were dismissed early – even before the storms approached.  People were taking measures to make sure they’d be in a place that was safe. The news reporters were giving advice about how to be prepared – even advising that if you went to the basement to be sure to wear your shoes.  This was in case your home was leveled you wouldn’t be barefoot walking on broken glass.   No one was going to mess around and get caught unawares this time!

I couldn’t help but compare these storm warnings to the Lord’s return – His Rapture that is imminent.  We’ve all heard about it, perhaps for years.  It’s been in the forecast of our preacher’s sermons, the evangelists warnings, in message of best selling books, and in the youth director’s pleas – and we yawn.  All we see is a little rain cloud.  “Sure, sure.  They all say Christ will return, but it won’t happen while I’m living…if it happens at all.”  We may even snore because we’re so soundly sleeping in our Christian life. 

We’re not only nodding off to the warning, we’re asleep to what we should be doing while we wait.

• Just as my mother-in-law’s neighbors came knocking on her door to invite her to the safety of their home, we should be seeking those that will be left here when Christ returns.  We need to invite the unsaved to the safety that only a relationship with Christ will bring!
• We should be serving faithfully so that when we stand at the Judgement Seat of Christ, we will hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”
• We should be in church.  Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. “The Day” is the Day of Christ’s return!  We’re supposed to be in church anyway, but as His return is nearer today than yesterday, we should gather “so much the more!”  We need each other.  We need  the encouragement!  If you knew Christ was coming this week, would you regret that you missed being in His house this last Sunday night just because you had something else on your agenda? 

Thankfully this year’s storms in East Tennessee will be taken seriously by its residents, and that fact alone will save lives.  However, when the Lord returns, there will be no “next time” to take God seriously.   The moment when the shout is made, the voice calls, and the trump sounds will be the end of this life and the beginning of eternity.  It will be the end of the warning, and for many it will then be too late.  Do you see the warning button flashing on the screen?  Make things right today…while there is still time.     Why do you doubt?  He is a God that does not lie.

With love,