"Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"

May 21st eh?

According to some, that's when 'The Rapture' will occur. Don't know if I want to be a part of it or not to tell you the truth. I seem to remember something about the chaff being gathered and burned before the wheat. I love dispensationalists, I hope they won't be disappointed! It would be a shame for some to fall away from the faith because they have a flawed eschatology. That's the only point on the actual date of May 21st I want to make, and any further discussion will be an adventure in missing the point I will not engage in at this time.

I do think one good thing could come of all this talk about "THE End of the WORLD" Mainly, it has to do with Okra. Well not Okra directly, more to do with Okra Flowers because they are beautiful, intricate, simple, blooming reminders that life is a vapor, and we are here today, and gone tomorrow.

Some folks take pride in their ability for their floral arrangements to last. Then, you have a whole group of people who do almost anything to 'preserve' the flowers by drying them. I stand guilty of that. I got news for you and me, no flower lasts. They all wither and fade, some more quickly than others, but they will all go away. The best result we can expect from preservation is a dry, crumbly, shell of what a flower is, pressed between the pages of a book, or hung upside down over a window, or we can choose to encase it in a substance far removed from it's orignal composition, so that while it may look beautiful, it is nothing like the flower we want it to be. Shell or mockery, you won't have the flower forever.
God Knows us so well!
Isaiah 40:1-8:

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

Ah, we are the flowers!
Here's part two of my okra flower picture: The day after I took that picture, I picked that withered blossom out of the square with the okra plant in it, and I threw it in the compost! It was already on the ground, withered up into a tube, as okra flowers do wither. Such is the fate of you and I. We will feed the worms, barring of course, great things happen before we die. Until then, Because of Adam, this body is destined for death.

God's word is forever, and it has promised us great things. God has given us a promise of a new Kingdom, a new heaven, and a new earth. We'll have permanent treasure, new bodies, and great rooms. When I think of heaven the thing that grabs me most is its PERMANENCE!

I hope you pause and think about what is temporary, and what is forever as May 21st approaches.
I hope you pause and think about what is temporary, and what is forever once it passes.
I hope you are changed by what is permanent and not changed by what changes with the passing of the day.