Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Always Be Ready

I learn so many valuable lessons from our kids. Sometimes it isn't so much a learning of something new as a reminder of something old.

As you may already be aware, our son Micah has been listed on the national transplant list for a liver transplant. This will be his second transplant.

The transplant could come at any time. Even in the last two weeks, there was a liver he would have received but the size was not a right match. Every day we live with the reality that the call could come for us to make the journey to Duke Hospital for Micah to receive his new liver.

This morning Micah took a suitcase and began packing his things so he would be ready. Every time the phone rings, he is adamant that we answer it because, as he says, "It could be Duke!" There seems to be no day that passes now that the anticipation of this doesn't come up in conversation in our home, outside our home, and even with complete strangers.

It has been a deep and powerful reminder of how we can begin to live without urgency and expectation. Jesus made a promise and He always keeps His promises. He promised He would return for His children to take them home to be with Him forever, receiving the reward of their labor. In Matthew 24, He emphatically tells us to always be ready because "in such an hour that you think not, the Son of Man will return."

Am I living with the same expectation that any day and every day could be the last day?

Do I anticipate Jesus returning, as He promised, as though it could come today?

Are there things I've left undone? Words I've left unsaid? Acts I've yet to fulfill? Love I've failed to communicate and show? Gospel conversations I've avoided?

The truth is that the call could come today. Jesus could call all of His children to come home never to return here or leave His presence again. We must always be ready. We must live intentionally, passionately, and urgently. Are we really ready?

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