Turning the World Upside Down
But don’t forget this, dear friends, that a day or a thousand years from now is like tomorrow to the Lord. He isn’t really being slow about his promised return, even though it sometimes seems that way. But he is waiting, for the good reason that he is not willing that any should perish, and he is giving more time for sinners to repent.
The day of the Lord is surely coming, as unexpectedly as a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the heavenly bodies will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:8-10 Bible (TLB)
I have been trying to get Jesus and his life straight in my mind. Oh, I know all the stories written about him; the parables of wheat and vineyards and the miracles of lame men dancing and the woman holding her breath as she touches the bottom of his robe. But there is just so much to take in and I can’t get it organized and flowing in a nice sequential order that will really land in a solid and sure place in my thoughts. The problem is I am reading it all – the stories of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John. Trying to get myself ready to enter the gates of Jerusalem before the week of Passover. And I am running out of time.
The disciple named Matthew wrote about those last days when Jesus walked away from the Temple to sit at the Mount of Olives and talk with his disciples (Chapter 24). Jesus also knew he was running out of time. He had a lot to say about the destruction of the Temple and the signs of the coming end of the age. Cue the earthquakes and famines. He tells a story of pretty scary stuff with the moon refusing to shine and stars falling from the sky and all the tribes of the earth mourning. Nation would rise against nation and those who followed Jesus would be hated and put to death. Lawlessness would increase, the love of many would grow cold. Yep, sign me up. This is not a good way to recruit followers.
Okay, I think I need a story change. So oddly, I will tell the story of the days before my mother’s world turned upside down. Again, it is a story of time running out.
On the afternoon of Friday, May 29th, 2009, a strange mini-tornado went through my mother’s yard in Greenville, South Carolina. Only through her yard. It was called a ‘Microburst’ – when a sudden downward burst of wind rushes toward the ground, possibly at 60 MPH, hitting the surface and spreading out in all directions reaching speeds of 100 mph, causing extensive damage in a very small area.
This Microburst took out 4 large oaks and pines, which took out 4 more as they went down. Along with the power and telephone lines. Miraculously, the house wasn’t touched.
My mother and I found out about it late that Saturday morning when the calls started coming in from my cousins. My mother had come to Atlanta to stay with me for the week to celebrate my daughter's graduation from high school, so she was safe and sound with me. By the time we found out about it, my cousins, the sons and daughters of my mother's brothers and sisters, were already in full swing making things right again. Doris Kay had talked with the local news reporters, and she was the first to call me. Steve had contacted the power company to get the power lines reconnected. Don had called Momma's tree man to get him to come out and start the four-day process of clearing away the giant trees. Susan had gone by to clear out the refrigerator before the food spoiled, but she found Fran, already there cleaning out the stand-alone freezer. “Georgia, your mamma had 6 half-gallons of ice cream in her freezer!” I thought, “That sounds about right.” Obviously, everyone knew where my mother kept a spare key to the house.
My mother and I sat down for lunch that day and said a prayer of thanksgiving for how God had looked out for her – by having her safe with me. She thanked God for the loving actions of her nieces and nephews. That afternoon she told me she felt cared for and very loved. Six hours later, she would have a stroke, and a fall, and would pass away Monday afternoon. I was in shock.
When my sisters and I arrived in Greenville on Wednesday to prepare for her funeral, one of my best friends since childhood, Hara, showed up unexpectedly. “I called the house phone,” she said, (a number she had been dialing since she was seven years old), “and a recording said it was no longer in service… And that was when it really hit me – that your Mom was gone.”
It was like the earth groaned in preparation for my mother leaving. She had built her house on land her father had given her when she was in her early 30s… just yards away from the dairy farm where she had grown up. Fifty-six years later, the sky would grow dark, the rain would fall, the wind would blow and 100-year-old oaks would turn upside down in mourning of what was to come.
We sit with Jesus and his disciples. It is late, and the storm clouds are brewing. It has been an eventful week. There was a parade and hosannas as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a borrowed colt of a donkey. He had cleared the Temple of merchants. He had healed the sick and taught in the courts as the crowds surrounded him. He had traded accusations with the religious leaders. Preparations were being made for Passover. And Jesus’ words pour out in bright red ink in our bibles, telling of what is to come.
Prophecy is always confusing. We are trying to understand the future with blindfolds on. And what makes it even more confusing is God’s timing doesn’t line up too well with ours. We understand minutes and hours and days and weeks – because our time is limited to one lifetime. God has enough time to look forward into the years and decades and centuries - because time for Him is limitless. His prophecy can unfold in the near future or the distant future. He’s got the time.
And he clearly tells us one thing: no one can know when it is going to happen – but it is going to happen. Just as surely as the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, this heaven and earth will come to an end. The stars will fall from the sky and there will be an earth-shattering sound as angels blow their trumpets. Blinding light will stretch across the skies as Jesus comes on the clouds in power and great glory. His chosen will be gathered. “Be ready,” he told us. “Be watching.”
Because Jesus, this Son of Man, does not want us to miss it. To be caught off-guard. Have your bags packed. Be waiting. Be ready for Him to take you Home.
I think of my mother. Friends and family reached out to comfort me with the shared confidence that my mother had told them she was “ready”. She was content for her Father to call her Home. And suddenly, one day, with no warning in our bright skies of Atlanta, He did. I think the storm that went through her land in South Carolina was the beginning of labor pains, as Jesus would describe them. Her world was going to be turned upside down.
As Peter said, “The Day of the Lord is surely coming… But he is waiting, for the good reason that he is not willing that any should perish, and he is giving more time for sinners to repent.”
Repent is a good word – it means to turn away from the world and to turn your face to God. God made it easier than you think when He sent One who looked like a Son of Man to carry our burdens for us. A sacrificial lamb, blood on our door. But that’s another story for next week. In the meantime, as the days of Passover draw near, you might want to ask yourself: Are you ready?
Casting Crowns - Praise You In This Storm