That's not Jesus

Well, the weekend has come and gone, and we're all still here. Another attempt by man to know the mind of God has failed as the predicted rapture/end of the world did not arrive at 6 p.m. on May 21.

Surprised? Not really. Disappointed? Yes and no.

Mainly I'm disappointed because all those skeptics have added another big log to their fire of doubt. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I find the rapture jokes not so funny. I guess that's because even though I don't believe Harold Camping, I do believe Jesus Christ, and He says one of these days it's going to happen.

But most of all, I find myself thinking of a Wayne Watson song called 'That's Not Jesus' off 'The Fine Line' album. The chorus goes:

"That's not Jesus, He doesn't carry on that way.
Just some flesh and blood like you and me, Somehow gone astray
That's not Jesus, no, No matter what they say
He doesn't need me to defend Him, He just wants me to obey."

And that's the problem, that when the world looks at ol' Mr. Camping, they just put the Jesus label on him with an asterisk that says: MAY BE CRAZY.


But that's not what Jesus looks like, and not the way he's going to be introduced when he comes either. In Matthew 24:23-24, Jesus warned his disciples to be wary:

"At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive ..."

Later in the same chapter, Jesus tells us what we should be doing when he comes, and it doesn't say anything about buying billboards or trying to scare people into heaven. Jesus say simply:

"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns."

After 2,000 years and nearly as many wrong guesses as to the Lord's return, maybe we should all stick to following Jesus instead of predicting him. As the song says, he just wants us to obey.

A Living Prayer

Ran across this video of Alison Krauss and Union Station playing Jay Leno a couple of years ago. The song is fantastic, as is the response of the audience, who were no doubt being shown the applause sign, but still ... Anyway, enjoy.

Staying the course

"When in the course of human events ..."

So begins the infamous Declaration of Independence, that revered document emblematic of American freedom and the signing of which forms the basis for our annual Fourth of July celebrations.

But did you know that eight delegates of the Continental Congress never signed the Declaration? Three were away with other duties at the time and never did sign, two voted against the document and were replaced, one voted for it but was replaced before he could sign, one resigned rather than sign it and one refused to sign, calling the Declaration premature, but remained in Congress.

Over the next seven years of the Revolutionary War, you can bet the wisdom of that document and those signers was questioned more than once, but in the end the mission was accomplished.

More recently, on May 1 it was announced that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden had been shot and killed, just four months shy of 10 years after the plot he masterminded resulted in approximately 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, 2001.

In the intervening years, there was a fair amount of grumbling and disagreement of the pursuit of bin Laden. On May 1, there were flags waving and people chanting. Another mission accomplished.

The Bible tells similar tales, most notably the people of Israel, who followed Moses out of Egypt to freedom, then spent the next 40 years grumbling, stumbling and bumbling their way through the wilderness before finally reaching the Promised Land.

It's a good reminder for us as Christians as well. Christ died some 2,000 years ago, and since then has come a fair amount of arguing, debating and worse as the days pass without his return. But he's already told us it's going to happen, so we must stay the course, do the work, fight the good fight until he comes, until one more mission is accomplished.