The baby was eight days past my due date. When would this baby come? I’d been busy with a full time job, finishing my tasks before the baby’s due date. My last day at work was three days before the birth. But I waited and waited. Eleven long days we waited. My husband. My five-year-old son. Finally, I began to feel twinges that might mean labor was beginning. Was it real? I wasn’t sure at first, but then the labor pains increased in earnest, and soon our baby girl was born.

Sometimes I wait for a sleepless night to end. Wait for a special visitor to come. Wait while the aroma of baking bread tells me it will be ready to come out soon, and I can enjoy a piece of bread, with butter and honey dripping over the crust.

Since I was a child, I was told and now believe that Jesus is going to return for us. That in a moment, at the sound of the trumpet of God, Jesus himself would call us who believe in him to be caught up in the clouds and meet him there. First those who have died and trusted in Christ and his salvation, and then those of us who still are alive. (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). I was told he will come in the clouds and all will see him (Revelation 1:7). We wouldn’t know the day or the hour when Jesus would return, but we are told to be ready (Matthew 24: 27, 230, 31, 42).

I think the most comforting part that Jesus told his believers was that he was preparing a place for them–which means us as well. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3). 

Waiting for the day…

So, as you begin your day today, anticipating something or someone, be aware. It might be today that He returns.

We watched an old movie a few weeks ago called “A Man Called Peter”, the story of Peter Marshall, a Scottish-American preacher. In one of the scenes, Peter was sitting at the bedside of a very sick child who most likely would die of his illness. “What will it be like?” the child asked the pastor.

The pastor told him, “Well, you know how when you fall asleep in the car, your parents carry you to your own bed and instead of awakening in the car, you’re in your bed. It will be like that. You’re in one place, and then without remembering or knowing it, you will be with Jesus.”

That’s how either death–or the return of Christ will be. One moment we are alive, the next, we will awaken in another place. We don’t know for sure how it will happen–either death, or the return of Christ while we are alive. For sure, it will happen when we least expect it. Look up the passages above. Read them for yourself. And then anticipate the return.

“Lord, help me to be ready for Your return. Forgive me for ever doubting You will return. Thank you for the calm assurance of Your promise that You are preparing a place for us. While I wait, I trust in You. Amen.”

I love it when you comment on my blogs. Tell me your “waiting” stories!

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