This morning

I told mom "I feel like something cool is going to happen today."

As I came downstairs to start some laundry, I had a thought.

What if the end of the world happened today?

Whoa!

At first I felt excited, but then a little guilty... a little burdened, kinda. If this life of mine were to end today, I can't say I'd be too disappointed! I love what 'life' is, what it has come to mean for me where I am right now; the people in it, this new stage I'm exploring... but I know that what I have to look forward to -- the sights, the sounds, (or whatever perceptions we might come to know)-- is much more fantastic than even the sweetest scene I could ever imagine witnessing, the most beautiful song I could ever hear. To praise God and celebrate His Kingdom perpetually with others of that same focus! [Isn't that the way we're supposed to live our lives now, anyway?] I know people say they can only imagine, but I admit I have a hard time doing even that! There is everything to look forward to.

But what about for people that have no idea what that feels like? No fantastic picture of hope, much less any reception of that concept, at all? That's the clincher. The thing that always gets me when I start to think about this world pulling its end cover shut. According to what I believe, what the Word of God tells me about these things, the outlook for them isn't nearly as hopeful.
There is absolutely nothing to look forward to.

That hurts to think about. It kind of provides a better understanding about why a lot of people live the way they do, though. But it still hurts.

There is a lot more that needs to be explored and said about this, but I've got some showering and malt-o-mealing to do in time to head to church.

I'll end with a couple things for now --

1) How should we best respond to this? Street corner preaching? Is it enough to live in a
God-pleasing way with our 'everyday' jobs, so long as we're sincerely focused on bringing glory to Him?

2) This morning's devotion (which came after the laundry got started) listed Isaiah 35:2, and then proceeded with this message.
"Yes or no. I like these kinds of answers -- black and white responses to questions that I can neatly
fit into two distinct categories. Most of the time, God's answer to us isn't so clean cut. In the thick of
our problems, we forget that our chief purpose is not to get a yes or no from God but to glorify Him
in whatever kind of answer we receive.
Remember, it isn't about us. It's easy to be caught up in how we will fair at the end of our respective
storms, but in the end God is always sovereign, and our situations provide the perfect opportunity
for His sovereignty to be displayed. Look at what He did for Peter. God didn't immediately remove
him from persecution; instead God allowed the situation to develop so Peter's life would be a
testimony of God's love and provision for His people."

It's time to get serious...

"The Kingdom of heaven/God in the preaching of Jesus as recounted in the Gospels is the reign of God that he brings about through Jesus Christ -- i.e., the establishment of God's rule in the hearts and lives of his people, the overcoming of all the forces of evil, the removal from the world of all the consequences of sin -- including death and all that diminishes life -- and the creation of a new order of righteousness and peace. The idea of God's kingdom is central to Jesus' teaching and is mentioned 50 times in Matthew alone."

Wowee.

What does God's Kingdom look like on earth?
Are we living to perpetuate these things? [If not, what are we doing? Or, better question:]

What could we be doing now to more completely promote God's Kingdom?