Sometimes my stress level affects me in ways I don’t understand. It’s a subconscious thing, and sometimes my only symptom that I am overstressed is pain that ties my back in knots. Weird how our worries affect our bodies. You would think that by now I would have learned to rest in the Lord, to trust God so much that I never worried about a thing. Of course, that doesn’t even happen in my dreams! But at least I am learning to recognize the cause. Now I just have to apply the solution more readily!
We gave my dad a birthday party today, celebrating his 88 years. Several elderly family members were able to attend, some brought by their children (those that traveled fair distances) and we were grateful to all who were able to come. My dad’s younger brother was there, and it was great to see the family together again. They don’t get that opportunity often any more. My dad was surprised and pleased to know that people came just to see him. Me too!
My desktop computer died this week. I’m still hoping it’s an easily fixable problem, but in the meantime, we had to hook up the printer through a different setup. So far, only one computer can print to it. If we can’t figure it out on our own, we will have to set up a Skype call with our oldest son to help us fix it. I try, but computer genius I am not…
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying some podcasts on Ecclesiastes taught by Erwin McManus of Mosaic. I’m almost caught up on the series. If you get a chance to listen, he’s got some great insights into Solomon’s thoughts.
Found out tonight that one of our friends is among the many travelers who is stranded overseas due to the volcano forcing the airports to close. I’ve been thinking about how interesting it is that so many natural disasters have already happened just this year. If NBC News is correct, they claimed that California has seen 70 earthquakes at 4.0 and higher just this year (2009 total they had 30), and that’s not even counting the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, or Indonesia, not to mention the tsunamis, the unusual flooding, the weird weather all over the world, and now the volcano in Iceland disrupting air traffic in multiple countries.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” Matthew 24:6-8 (Emphasis mine)
Are we seeing the beginning of birth pains or is such a time far into the future? There was apparently a meteor shower over Wisconsin that frightened a lot of people yesterday. Read about it here. “The fire ball reportedly fell over Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri around 10:15 p.m., local time. And it made the night green-tinged day and unleashed a sonic boom heard for hundreds of miles around, report said.” I read somewhere, though I can’t find it now, that people feared the world was coming to an end.
Someday it will. But not yet. Still, the earth itself seems to be warning us that its time is running out, and life as we know it is going to change dramatically one day. Jesus is going to return, and before He does, there will be birth pains of war and earthquakes and famine. If nothing else, the current conditions should give us much to ponder and point us to seek Him before it is too late.
Selah~
