Time To Wake Up

How do you wake up in the morning? Do you just wake up earlier then you want and you can’t get back to sleep? It could be that there is something on your mind and it prevents you from drifting back to sleep. Or do you sleep until just before the alarm goes off? You have a built in clock that wakes you before the annoying buzzer rattles you into reality. I know there are many of you that sleep long and deep right up until the alarm goes off. Still others do the same thing each morning by reaching out just far enough to hit the snooze button.
Myself, I can’t remember the last time I set the alarm. A long time ago in a land Far Far Away, I used to work at a job that allowed us twenty one minutes of break sometime in the shift. Inevitably I would take my time lying down sleeping. In all the years I worked there no one needed to wake me up to get back to work. Something inside me woke me and I returned to work, ready to go.
For many of us, we have another wake up call. We need to ask, How do you wake up? How can we wake up? I have been to a number of churches over the last few years and many of them are asleep. Not just the church but the people as well. Where is the excitement we once knew? Jesus gave us an amazing message. One that is exciting, and full of joy and expectations. We live in a world that is not only exciting but thrilling and moving forward at breath taking speed. When will we wake up and come alive within our churches or within out own faith journey? Someone once told me he comes to church to get some much needed rest. I think the churches have been hitting the snooze button far too long. It’s past time to get up and get going.
And the same is true for our individual Christian lives. We get excited about many of our relationships in life. More people get excited about buying a new car then about going to church. But what about our relationship with the one and only Jesus Christ? My bible tells me that I need to “know Him and the power of His resurrection. Will you today, get excited about being with Jesus?
Something to think about
Rob

Everything Changes, Almosts

There is always something new under the sun. It is true in every area of life. If you were to walk to the store one day after another, you would inevitably notice there are subtle differences. Maybe it’s just a little more snow today then yesterday or some more melting then yesterday. But there is something. No sunset is the same as yesterday’s and tomorrow will be different again. You go in the store and there are new things on “special” today that were not there yesterday. I don’t know what’s so special about most of this stuff I notice. It seems like only the high calorie items are on sale. Well, with the exception for some rabbit food.
But you can even read the Windex container and it says, “NEW AND IMPROVED.” I did a little research about this. Not scientific, but checked it out thoroughly. Okay, I took out my glasses and read the ingredients. Then I picked up a regular bottle. I presumed it was bottled before the “NEW AND IMPROVED” bottle by the dust on the top of it. Well wouldn’t you know it, but the contents were identical. No difference at all with the formula. What was really new was found in the small print below the name Windex, below the “NEW AND IMPROVED” lines. It read, “Bottle.”
For generations most of us have trusted this product and we could never figure out how they could improve it. But they did - in that they put it in a better bottle. Easier to handle and better - better for them because the new bottle held less but cost the same. I assume that someone would come up with the idea of new and improved in relationship to raising the price and not changing anything else.
When you go to church this week, you undoubtedly discover something new. Most probably they will be subtle things. Nothing earth shattering. Might just be someone is sitting in your pew, or maybe a new hymn you have never sung even though it’s been in this forty-year old book. Listen carefully. We are in a society of change. Statistics tell us our world will change significantly every three years. All except some churches but don’t tell them. While the world changes and we embrace most of it, one thing is for sure, Jesus has not changed.
My bible says that he is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
In a changing world, one thing it always the same - Jesus loves me, this I know. And we can take that to the bank.
Something to think about
Rob