Natural Disaster

Imagine a natural disaster is about to happen. The news and local authorities have been talking about it for days (or hours). The disaster could be floodwaters rising above the valley floor or a tornado or hurricane. People need to be ready, they need to prepare, in some instances evacuate.


What do people do? Some party, some pack up, some leave, some stay. Gallows humor abounds. People take comfort, shelter, and encouragement from whatever source they can.

Some people, in every disaster, choose not to evacuate. They choose not to listen to the knowledge and instructions of those who are trained to keep them safe. They choose to stay in their homes and hope that the flood, hurricane or tornado will miss them and their loved ones.

Some people, who are far away from the impending tragedy, will laugh, scoff and make fun of the scurrying masses readying for catastrophe. And in truth, some of the people about to be smack dab in the middle of disaster make fun of those that are safe; those that built their houses away from rivers, harbors, earthquake plates, tornado alley.

So, I’d like you to think of the “Rapture” in terms of a natural disaster; which is quite close to what the aftermath of the Rapture will likely be.

People will have disappeared by the thousands. It’s not clear if physical bodies of the believers will disappear or if there will be streets and buildings strewn with lifeless bodies everywhere. Earthquakes, car crashes, storms and all manner of chaos will occur. It doesn’t matter because we can’t picture in our minds what the disaster will actually look like. Just as every natural calamity that occurs is like no other we’ve seen, the rapture will be like nothing we can imagine. Pictures won’t adequately describe the fear, pain, suffering and horror that will take place.

Those of us on high ground, the believers; we scoff a bit at those that are concerned about their “fate”. We’re safe. We know where we’re going and where we’ll spend eternity. (I won’t argue theology or correctness in this post). So, like the people in the desert who laugh at those that are flooded every single year because they live on the rivers, we feel your pain, but we know we’ve chosen the safety that is available to everyone. For those that continue to live in tornado alley or along the shores of towns that experience hurricanes more years than not, we understand your sorrow and your loss, but cannot comprehend why you willingly put yourself in the path of destruction.

You don’t have to live in a specific place or in a certain home or possess a certain alarm system to be ready for the ‘end of the world’. You have available to you the gift of a lifetime. And, you have the choice to accept the gift or not. You can move to a safe place, and know that you will be safe.

All you have to do is choose the gift, the present, the grace of God who provides for every tragedy with love and power and everlasting life.

It’s your choice. You can celebrate the end of the world while you fear the destruction that is about to come or you can rejoice that you’ll be eternally safe and secure.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life.

Romans 10:9-10 (New International Version)

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.