rapture or not...

this is a post i have been intending on writing for a while now, but just have not got around to it. one thing i learned as a journalism major was "timeliness;" unfortunately, there is a small window that something remains timely. like, you know when someone says something really clever, and you want to follow it up with something equally witty-- but you struggle to decide if this is too sarcastic, or if that is too offensive, and then before you know it, that moment of awkward silence that could've been filled with a rebuttal has been filled with new conversation and has left you with both thoughts remaining, but nothing spoken?

yeah, me neither.

in spite of its lack of timeliness, i figured i'd go ahead and stick it to every journalism professor i ever had in college, and not follow the rules. after all, i'm not even sure that blogging was in the rules, and i know for a fact, you are to leave "i" out of every story.

about a month ago, many of us cracked jokes, ate our "last supper," and sat half-nervously, half-pretending-we-didn't-care on the edge of our social media seats for the coming of Christ. you don't even have to be a Christian to admit that at 6:01 you checking facebook to make sure your more religious friends were still there.

all jokes aside, what happened (not that Christ has just decided to be fashionably late), is heartbreaking. sure, it is easy to joke about the kooks that followed this false prophet, and those that even sold their businesses or got someone to keep their pet in case of a rapture (don't worry, Sabby's coming to heaven with me); but when you look at the core of the matter, it is devastating.

essentially, a man was very very convinced he had it figured out. he knew when Christ was coming back, and He wanted everyone to know about it, too. i give him the benefit of the doubt; if i had the cure for cancer, i'd want everyone to know about it too. but in this, he mislead thousands of people. he glossed over verses in the Bible that say "He comes like a theif in the night," or that "no one knows the day or the hour," and used some sort of mathematical deductions to come up with something believable.

when 6:01 came, and the rapture didn't happen for those that were absolutely ready to meet their maker, i would venture to say, a lot of hearts were devastated. a lot of people were broken and disappointed and left feeling misused and naive and hopeless.

now, i know my King is coming back, but i don't have the slightest clue when. and although i have never wrongly put my hopes into one rapture basket, i have put my hope in something aside from Jesus, and been sorely disappointed. i know this has lost its timeliness, but even in this moment friends, i ask you to pray for those that were disappointed that the coming of Christ didn't occur as they planned.

think about a time that you have gotten so hopeful, over a good thing, even a Kindgom-seeking thing. think of how certain you may have been over this thing. remember how the promise of something new on the horizon felt? and remember how it felt when all of it came crashing down without explanation? as humans, we are flawed. we put our trust in the wrong things. we create idols of these things, even these good things, and our hope drifts to them, instead of being consecrated to the Lord. as we do this, we trust in something other than the sovereignty of the Lord. and we are left broken when this thing crumbles.

you may not have believed the rapture was coming on such-and-such a date, but chances are, if you're anything like me, you've forgotten a time or two to put all your hope in Christ, and you've felt the brokenness that was left. fortunately, we don't have to endure that brokenness alone. we have a living, loving God that is right there with us, whispering to us, wooing us, declaring His love to us. in your brokenness, i challenge you to see yourself as the Lord sees you: not as a broken, unworthy mess. but as a child of God! one whom He loves and cherishes and desires to be in relationship with!

the Bible encourages us to remember: "You knew there were better things waiting for you, that will last forever. So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurace is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that He has promised. For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away." (Heb. 10:34b- 38 NLT)

and if you know someone who has their hope set on the wrong thing; point them to Jesus. we've all been there, and sometimes, we must break in order to learn. so lovingly point, and if they don't follow, just pray that when their hope is lost, God will complete the work and heal their hearts.