We got almost two inches of rain last night from a couple of fairly big thunderstorms that plowed across our neck of the woods and hereabouts. It’s so wonderful to get good rain this time of the year because it’s getting to be near that time when the autumn woods need rain to make all those beautiful colors as cool north winds begin to stir. If the weather is too dry in late summer, the leaves all just turn brown and fall, but when the rains hit just right, they get kind of waxy and shiny as they find the colors the Creator assigns to them. If you’re a follower of this site, you’ll already know this old hillbilly tends to wax poetic over the fall colors, and I don’t think this year will be any exception.
This autumn portends some different, ominous changes to the whole world, and frankly I don’t believe this existence in which we find ourselves is going to last much longer. Before you get your hackles up – and it’s understandable if you do – I’m painfully aware of the content getting published about needing to get prepared for hard times ahead, but the preparation this site advocates is mostly about spiritual preparation. In the end, being prepared to meet our Maker will be the ONLY preparation of any consequence and that realization must come sooner rather than later, because for it to actually work out to be of positive consequence it must be dealt with, and wholeheartedly if at all.
For the typical unbeliever who tries to continue straddling the fence between becoming a righteous follower of Jesus or simply living in the world and adapting to each and every kind of craziness the enemy throws at us, maybe you should look at this life like something you probably understand, like a football game. Yeah, think of this life as one big football game and right now we’re playing in the first half. People spend all their time chasing after money and good times and sure enough, just like touchdowns on the scoreboard, they’re racking up what they believe to be a big lead that will surely result in a win, and they tend to forget about that other half they still have to face. Most folks consider success to be about fancy homes and fast cars, boats, private jets, and whatever other items of instant gratification they can accumulate here in the first half. There’s a tendency to taunt us “losers” who appear to be falling further and further behind because of our quest to serve Jesus.
We don’t desire the same lifestyles as the unbelievers, because our “Coach” has given us some vision. We understand what’s ahead, and we trust our Coach who has assured us of victory in the next stage of the contest if we don’t get too worried about what our score looks like to the world in this half, but trust Him. Flashy cars and bank accounts only last until halftime – when your friends, relatives, and acquaintances lay you to rest and promptly start to divvy up all the things you “scored” as you erroneously presumed you were actually driving up the score. You came into this game with nothing, and you will leave it with nothing, no matter how much wealth you amassed during the first half. Google Jacob Rothschild; Sheldon Adelson; Dick Cheney. The game was over for them by halftime, and no matter what they had, they didn’t take a dime with them, and unless they took an opportunity to repent, they face a long and dismal second half indeed.
Just like the first half of this contest, which has varying lengths of time for different people, the second half isn’t really a half at all. It begins when we face our ultimate Referee, who will no doubt disqualify many from the contest entirely. He gave us the rule book and expected us to live by it, but we decided that we could rig the game in our favor – always outside the rules, so many of us gave no heed to them and proceeded to run up a score that would never serve to benefit us at all, for that second half was yet to be faced. That second “half” will last for all eternity, and it is when that unimaginable time begins that we will realize we actually gained victory. The other side will only then understand the depths of their loss. We will have won because we trusted our Coach, who taught us how to play a winning game and not get worried or excited about how dark things looked in that first half. We learned not to envy those with earthly gains that – to their eternal dismay – could never benefit them in the second half, but then they ignored the very rule book which could have taught them there would even be a second half. They did not prepare for what came after that big halftime show in which their great score seemed to assure them of victory, but alas for them victory was not meant to be.
When the “influencers” of the world keep harping on getting prepared, almost all of them are in one way or another talking about getting prepared for a future here on earth and how to survive some catastrophe in this first half of the game, but some of us are crying from the roof tops about preparing ourselves for the second half – listen to the Coach and trust Him, He’s saying that what’s important is on the other side and we should be preparing for that. We should have our minds focused on what we need and how we should live to get into the next life and stop worrying so much about how to survive in this one. The very first play of the greatest game is to make that decision to trust our Lord, our Coach, our Mentor, Jesus Christ. Beyond that is to try and live our lives in servitude to Him and to love our neighbors – even the foreigners among us. Play by the rules and thus avoid penalties as much as possible, and you will be playing to win – we must win – the alternative is too terrible to imagine, but the victory will be worth the effort we exerted on every down!
May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.
MK