Any Moment

     "Watch this!"  our pastor exclaimed as he drew on the chalkboard.  It was the late 90's.  I was in high school.  Every week, the lesson had pretty much the same thrust.  Jesus was coming back, and it could happen at any moment!  Every week, the pastor wrote out a timeline of history on the chalkboard.  He would write creation at the beginning, then draw a cross right in the middle to represent Jesus' death and resurrection.  Then, at the end of the line, he would write 1996 or 1997, or whatever years it was at the time.  He would then draw an arrow going up, to represent the Rapture of the church, which he expected to happen at any moment.  "Watch this" was his catch phrase as he drew.

     As teenagers, we all wanted to get to graduate from high school and get married.  The idea of an imminent Rapture wasn't 100% appealing to our young minds.  When we voiced this to the pastor, he would laugh and tell us we were just like a bunch of monkeys who didn't know what was good for us.  And, you know, he was right. Titus 2:13 says, "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."  Philippians 3:20 says, "For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." 

     The pastor also preached about the imminent Rapture from the pulpit.  He always gave an old-fashioned altar call, with one big difference from other pastors.  Instead of asking the question, "If you were to die, do you know for sure you'd go to Heaven?" he would ask, "If the Rapture happened right now, would you be taken or left behind?"  He lived in full expectation of the Rapture, and didn't expect for any of us to physically die.  Jokingly, he would often say, "We're closer to the Rapture than we've ever been in the history of the world!"  A fact that is always true, and gets truer by the moment.

     At times, it may have seemed a little much, but the truth is, we are supposed to be watching for Christ's return.  Never in my life--neither before nor since--have I had anyone speaking this truth into my life to such a degree as my pastor in high school.  All of us began to live in expectation of the Rapture.  We were urgent in our witnessing.  In fact, when I was eighteen and attending community college, I was afraid to drive unsaved friends home from school.  I thought, "If the Rapture happens while I'm at the wheel, I'll disappear, the car will crash, and my friend will go to hell, and won't even have a chance to get saved in the tribulation!" So, if an unsaved friend needed a lift, I would silently pray, "Lord, please don't come back until I get her home.  It should only be five minutes." I laugh to think of it now, because, I mean, I have no power to change what God has determined to be his return.  God isn't going to wait five minutes!  It's not like I was the only person who was driving an unsaved person in a car.  But I kind of miss thinking that way--that urgency.  That knowing it could happen at any time.  That's how it's supposed to be, and I so seldom hear it spoken of anymore. 

     I'm thankful for my time of having this truth taught to me in such a concentrated way.  I don't want to lose sight of it.