[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Monday, April 7, 2014

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all on this rainy Monday.  At least Fran, Jason, Beverly and Michelle can say that with certainty, as they happen to live in the same city where I do.  On the other hand, you just might be experiencing a sunny day.  Well, no matter the weather outside, if we have Jesus in our heart, we can experience the Sonshine of His love in our hearts, right?

I don't know the author of the following article, as such is not given.  However may it minister to you today, especially if you've lost a loved one, whether recently or several years ago.  The title of the article in question is "When Christ Comes," rendered as follows:

You are in your car driving home.  Thoughts wander to the game you want to see or the meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever heard fills the air.  The sound is high above you.  A trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets? You don't know, but you want to know.  So, you pull over, get out of your car, and look up.  As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one.  The roadside has become a parking lot.  Car doors open, and people are staring at the sky.  Shoppers are racing out of the grocery store.  The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt.  Players and parents are searching the clouds.

And what they see, and what you see, has never been seen.

As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part.  A brilliant light spills onto the earth.  There are no shadows.  None.  >From whence came the light begins to tumble a river of color-spiking crystals of every hue ever seen and a million more never seen.  Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels.  They pass through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky.  North,  South.  East.  West.  Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, "Holy, holy, holy."

The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.  Presently, the movement stops and the trumpets are silent, leaving only the triumphant triplet:  "Holy, holy, holy." Between each word is a pause.  With each word, a profound reverence.  You hear your voice join in the chorus.  You don't know why you say the words, but you know you must.

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet.  All is quiet.  The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns--and there He is, Jesus.  Through waves of light, you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King.  He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud.  He opens His mouth, and you are surrounded by His declaration:  "I am the Alpha and the Omega."

The angels bow their heads.  The elders remove their crowns.  And before you is a figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know, nothing else matters.  Forget stock markets and school reports.  Sales meetings and football games.  Nothing is newsworthy.  All that mattered, matters no more, for Christ has come.

Wow, but what a picture of Christ's Second Coming! Just in case you think this was originally written yesterday, I've had it in my collection for nine years, but I think this is the first time I've shared it with you.  Do you think this is a pie-in-the-sky scenario of how the Second Coming will occur? I don't think so at all, but the end results will definitely show what in fact will happen.  Again, I hope that reading or listening to it was a blessing for you today.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be yet another Daily Thought message for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul