Journey Signs ...

Directions.  Never have been good at them.  They're always upside down.  You probably never ran into that problem before.  My husband laughs when I'm looking at the folded paper with befuddled consternation, takes the map and says, "Oh, yeah, sure.  Look.  It's right there," as he points to the illusive destination on the map.  (It appears to me upside down.)

So the next time the occasion presents itself, I thought I would outsmart the process.  It seemed like a fairly good idea at the time.  Simply turn it upside down before even beginning to start looking for my destination.  Easy peezy.  Now the challenge that loomed large was my deciphering words askew while my brain screams to return the fandangled map in its upright position.  Still outsmarted by a piece of paper, in resignation I drive to the nearest all-knowing information booth .... a gas station ... where a grease-stained attendant I have never met before is entrusted with attempting to untangle my direction ineptitude.


Gaining directions for life can be quite the same way.  Just when you think you have the destination in sight, life is upended and suddenly the way doesn't seem quite as clear, even disorienting.  There will be people along the way, those we have never met in our lives, who we entrust with salient guidance to afford safe arrival at the next destination that life demands, sometimes with disastrous results.  We didn't know the way and were lost without signs that would lead us safely.  Does life always have to be that way?  I say, there has to be a better way in life and there is. 

A religious group surrounded Jesus one day and asked Him if He would show them a sign from heaven so they could know the times in which they were living.  He essentially said, "Come on, you can read the weather report but you don't know how to discern the signs of the times?"  There are many today asking the same thing, "What do you think?  How much time do you think we have left?  What's going on?  There's some awfully weird stuff happening.  I'm not sure where to turn or how to move forward.  Everything seems like it's falling apart."  It doesn't seem to matter one's spiritual journey they have taken.  The same question remains on everyone's lips.  Everyone knows there is something going on and just about to happen, but just what and when?


You know, the disciples of Jesus  asked Him the exact thing when He was here.  They asked him, "Do you know what signs are?  How will we know what's going to happen in the last days and what are we to do?"  He answered with great wisdom.  Most all of what He said then has now come to pass with pinpoint accuracy.   Here's a small current checklist:

1.  Don't let people lead you down a weed-filled path with deceptive trickery.  (Hum, check.  That's a big one.  Lots of stuff out there to choose from and most of it is all smoke and mirrors.  Hint:  don't fall for it, even if it sounds like pie in the sky.  If it sounds too good to be true, believe me, it is and frankly isn't from God.)
2.  Many will come down the pike trying to say, "I'm it.  I'm your messiah, your savior, the one that will save you from the economy, save your taxes, the Government will take care of you, it won't cost you a dime and can even save you from those that don't believe like you, blah, blah.
3.  You'll hear rumors of wars, talk of big nuclear wars, and wars that will actually break out and kill many people.  Don't be troubled about it.  The end is not yet just because of that (well, we're in the midst of that now, I'd say).
4.  Nation will rise against nation and there will be terrible things like famines and earthquakes all over the world (that's happening big time!).
5.  They will hate you and try to kill you (there are martyrs being killed every day worldwide on an unprecedented scale.  The Evin Prison in Iran, the concentration camps in North Korea, the prisons in China, and many more are torturing and killing Christians.  There are many here that would like the country "cleansed" of them here in America.  Does that remind anyone of Nazi Germany?).
6. Lots of people will be offended (already calling the race card on anything that moves, and the "Me" generation is obnoxiously trying to demand their rights whether they work or not -- mostly not).
7.  False prophets will deceive many (false doctrines have infiltrated the church at such an alarming rate it is stunning, but these are precedented days).

Then after all this long litany of upheaval, just like an upside down map, He made this stunning pronouncement that has more hope in it than anything you can read in the New York Times or anywhere, "The one that holds his ground in conflict, bears up against adversity, holds out under stress, stands firm calmly and courageously with energetic resistance to defeat and brave endurance to the very end -- those are the ones that shall be saved.  The gospel will be preached everywhere as a witness to everybody and then the end will come."  People will hear it.  They may not accept it.  They'll even deny it, but that doesn't make it any less true.  It's the sign.  The biggest one ever.   The gospel of the kingdom is being sent to nations and peoples all around the world at breakneck speed.  In places where proclaiming this message is at the risk of being beheaded, Jesus has been appearing in visions and dreams in addition to satellite images streaking across the expansive heavens proclaiming the only way to salvation. 

I don't know about you, but I think we're there.  There are signs everywhere.  There's distress and stress on every side screaming for our defeat, yelling out fear and doom, blazing out discouragement while evil forces are singing nightly lullabies of depression and suicide. 

Yet, in the midst hope burns with mega grace.  You can see the light if you look for the signs.  The best sign of all is Jesus.  He is the way.  He is the truth.  He is the light.  And he is the sign of all signs.  Look at His map:  the Bible.  It will turn your life upside down and you will see things as they are meant to be:  in truth, in righteousness, in joy.  You will find the way to the heavenly destination. 

Ernie Haas sings it best.  Be enriched and blessed as you listen to the strains of hope.  May this day bring you direction from the map of the Holy Spirit bringing you safely to the Way, the Truth, and the Life ... Jesus Christ.