I just finished a book....the subject of which was a particular Secret Service agent. The time period was many years ago....so possibly the duties and responsibilities of Secret Service agents have changed....but that is not important to this post.
At one time this particular agent was assigned to a president....and at another time to a vice president....and another time to the wife of a president....and yet another time....again to the president himself....a different president.
When an administration changed....the agents would be told what their new duties would be....if any....in a new administration. They didn't have any choice....were not asked for any preferences....and did not question their assignments.
So....the administration changes....and they know that their life for the next four years....maybe eight....may change drastically....as it might be protecting the President of the United States....or it might be going to kindergarten with a child of the Vice President of the United States. So....how is this going to be a Lord's Day post?
On the particular topic of this post....which is peripherally the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior and King....Jesus Christ....I have lived two lives....or to use words earlier in this post....as with this Secret Service agent....I have had two different assignments. For a long time....oh thirty years maybe....I thought that Jesus was returning soon....but that 'soon' could be anywhere from a few years to a few decades.....in other words there was absolutely no imminence about it....certainly nothing particularly special....and no need to adjust my lifestyle in any way. I have lived the last....oh....just estimating....twelve years or so.....knowing....as much as any Christin today can truly know....that Jesus is coming back in my generation...of which is just about over!
That Secret Service agent experienced both....riding a pony with a child....and being a bodyguard for the most powerful man on earth. He greatly desired the latter. I want the latter also! There is no comparison at all in rejoicing and praising in the two alternatives. The former....'hey it might be fifty years till Jesus comes back'....not really knowing or even caring....is almost a life without purpose....more of a holding pattern. The latter is the trumpet sound!
I am not saying that everyone has to or even should hear....as Billy Graham once titled a book....The Approaching Hoofbeats....[of the]....Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I am saying that that sound is the heavenly sound of the return in glory and power of our Lord and our Savior and our King....and it should be preferred....and viewed.....(even if the Lord should tarry)....as the sun is greater than the moon....to a veiled....even remote....off in the distance....coming hope! I have my assignment....and it is in making ready the return. Have you really checked to see what your assignment is!
