Years ago in the Philippines, I learned how suddenly things can happen, when a waterspout spun from a field to the left of our vehicle, crossed about thirty metres and smashed through our windscreen. I had only just asked my son Paul, who was driving, what he thought it was. He replied that it looked like a dust whirl.
But in seconds it crossed the distance and bypassing other vehicles on the highway, hit ours head-on. We could hardly comprehend what had happened! Tiny pieces of safety glass were caught in hair and clothing. The inside of the roof rippled with the power of the trapped wind. My sneakers were soaked and were still damp on my arrival home in Brisbane three days later.
Vehicles ahead and behind us were untouched. We had been targeted.
Years later, a television series aired on how brave teams rendered safe unexploded bombs. The thought came to me that the way they coped with the thought of being blown to oblivion was perhaps knowing that sudden death would take place faster than their minds would be able to comprehend it.
Which makes me think of how quickly will be the catching away of the Church when Jesus appears. In the “twinkling of an eye” we’ll be gone, and will arrive before we comprehend that we left! This catching away could take place at any time, so while we go about our business in a world that is fast falling apart, we should increase our early morning time of worship and prayer, so what whatever happens, and wherever it happens, our minds will already have been prepared for the event.
Forget those soft illustrations of bodies floating nicely upward toward the Lord in the clouds because the coming event-to-end-all-events will very likely be over before we realize that it began! The heavenly trumpet-call will be a summons, not a musical item!