Don't They Know It's the End of the World?

So we've had a lot of discussions and a lot of laughs in our office this week, after World Radio put a billboard up not more than 400-500 m from our building. One of our number wanted to know if the world would end before or after the rugby on the 21st. Another wanted to know if she should cancel her girls' night out with her friend. I just wanted it to happen early so that I didn't have to go grocery shopping - it's the bane of my life!

So what this thought-provoking and amusing billboard said was "Judgment Day: 21st May 2011" and in a little bubble to the side it said "The Bible guarantees it!", then in small letters the World Radio website, AM frequency, and the time of the broadcast - 18h00 - 21h00. Apparently, according to one Harold Camping, a pastor in America, it's all going to kick off with a worldwide earthquake, and the Rapture will take place. The world will cease to exist on 21st October 2011.





Before you go off and start buying a lifetime supply of baked beans and corned beef, here's some good news. I'm typing this at 5.24 pm. Still 35 minutes to go till 6 pm. BUT if you're reading this in Auckland, Sydney, Fiji, Tokyo, Beijing - guess what??? It's already the 22nd!!!! Good morning, and welcome to a world that has not ended yet!

BUT this did get me thinking. If you knew for sure that the world WAS going to end today, what would you do? Is there something you know you have been doing wrong that you want to make amends for? Is there a family member you need to apologise to for something that happened long ago? Someone you've been meaning to call, but haven't got around to doing it? Then I'm going to say to you - you are not guaranteed tomorrow. The Rapture may or may not happen tonight. You may have a car accident when you go out later, or you may live for another 70 years. We are never guaranteed any time but now. If you have unfinished business, and amends to make, make them now.

In terms of Harold Camping's predictions, I can safely say he's wrong to pin a date on it, and most likely we'll see the sun rise on another day tomorrow. What Jesus himself said was, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36). Jesus doesn't know, the angels don't know, and some number-crunching preacher in California certainly doesn't know for sure.

Harold Camping - false prophet?

That's the thing.  Don't be deceived.  Judgment Day is coming.  It really is.  Not even scientists or conservationists would disagree with me on this one.  The way we exploit natural resources, the dictatorships we see in parts of the world, the rampant holy wars and hatred among nations, the great poverty in some countries, global warming and the melting of the ice caps - all of us, deep in our hearts, know it can't go on like this forever.  Will it happen in my lifetime?  That's not my call - that's God's call.  All I know is that He's said we need to be ready, because we don't know the hour.  Again I ask, if Judgment Day were to happen tonight, where would you find yourself?  Would you be looking upward looking for the break in the clouds and listening for that trumpet? Or would you be filled with horror and dread at the thought of what is to come?  God is very clear that it WILL take place, but He's also made it clear that if we repent and turn to Him, any talk of the Rapture will not be a cause for consternation, but a source of celebration. We'll have a new address, and it won't be on this earth.  We'll be taken where there's no pain, no death, no sadness, endless peace and joy.

I leave you with this final thought.  You might be reading this and thinking I'm a religious nut, a total Jesus freak.  It's cool if you do - I've been called worse.  You may argue there is no God, and it's your right to do so.  So what if you're right?  It means that you carry on as you normally do, and hopefully my life is lived out in such a way that it makes the world a better place for the people whose path I cross. Hopefully, I manage to pour out some love and kindness on people, and bring smiles maybe where there were tears, living a good, law-abiding, hopeful, peaceful life.  When you die, that's it. When I die, hopefully some people will say some nice things about me, and remember me fondly.

Now, just think about it - what if I'm right?  On your judgment day, whenever that will be, what will you say? For some of you it's already 22nd May - "Judgment Day 2011" has passed.  But you haven't escaped.  God's just given you another chance. Don't leave it too late.

Mothers' Day x 365

My hero, my role model, my mum

Agnes Knox, Nancy Knox, Nan Lindsay.  Most of you reading this won't have a clue to whom I'm referring.  But there is the select few who read this who won't read "Agnes", "Nancy" or "Nan" - they'll read "Mum", "Granny", or some of you even "Aunty Nan". Born 12th June 1936, Mum had a childhood through wartime.  She was a remarkable lady in unremarkable circumstances.  Married at age 19, she held fast to her vow "till death do us part", bore four children (though suffering a miscarriage between the third and the fourth), raised three very, very different daughters, and one quiet and loving son, who knew how to bring out the best - and the worst - in all his sisters. 

Being the youngest of the four, by a fairly large number of years, I was the last child left in the home, after everyone else had married and moved away.  Mum just took everything in her stride - all the weddings, still having a child in school, the arrival of grandchildren.  She held down a job, she worked herself to the bone, then came home and did it all again there.  Of course I had chores, and of course Dad helped with cooking, and could drive a vacuum cleaner like you wouldn't believe, but nobody could do the laundry or ironing, or just generally keep the house going like Mum.

The news in 1992 that she had had a cancerous lump removed from her breast and was undergoing radiation therapy came as a huge shock.  But at every check-up thereafter she was given good reports, and Mum went back to doing what she loved to do - looking after other people.  There was always someone she "took care of" and she had a special heart for elderly and infirm people.  First it was Nanna, then Kate Hastie, then Annie.  So it was a massive, massive blow to us all when in December 1997 she was rushed to hospital, and died soon after admittance.  Though the death certificate stated she died of "pulmonary thrombosis", the autopsy revealed cancer had completely overtaken her body, and the doctors reckoned that, had the blood clot not killed her, the cancer certainly would have within the month.  She was 61, wife for 41 years, mother of four, grandmother of 6 (at that stage).

While thinking of her today, I just realised that, though I loved my mum desperately and there was nothing, literally nothing I couldn't tell her, I realised how little I really did to show her my appreciation, far less verbalise it.  If I could live my life over, that is probably one of the biggest things I would change - this lady who sacrificed so much for all of us - I would take so much off her shoulders in terms of household responsibility.  I would tell her that she is an amazing woman.   I would let her know that she truly is my hero.  She wouldn't be coming home from work and making her own tea, especially not if I've been home for an hour before her.  I would do more together with her.  Learn more about her childhood.  Learn more about - and from - her.  And I would really encourage her to pamper herself, take time out, take a break.  Sometimes moms are their own worst enemies.

And here's the thing; my mum's not the exception - she's more like the rule.  Moms just get on and do it and the more into motherhood I'm going, the more I see it.  There's a lady in our church right now - three children under five, studying AND keeping a household going.  I saw another lady arrange a massive women's event for over 400 women, while looking after two small children and being heavily pregnant with a third.  Yet another raising two adopted teenage daughters, working a full day in the city and sometimes not knowing where the next meal is coming from, yet never ever closing her heart to anyone in need - always the first there with a pot of soup, offer of a lift, or whatever's needed.

Yes, there are mothers who are genuinely bad, who will go all out to harm their family, but they really are not common.  Most mothers would lay down their lives for their children - and frequently do, figuratively if not literally.

So, if you are reading this, and you are blessed to have your mom still with you, do yourself a favour and take action.  I don't care how old you are or how old your mom is.  Make her a cup of tea, give her a night off cooking AND dishes, run her a bubble bath, take her out for a meal, go visit her, help her out with chores around the house, take her shopping, bring her a big bunch of flowers, give her a hug and a kiss, give her a call right now... but most of all, don't forget to tell her what an amazing superwoman she is, and how much you appreciate all she does and ever has done for you.  You will never say "I love you" louder than you do when you affirm her in the most important role God ever gave her - being your mother. 

Mother's day shouldn't be one arbitrary Sunday somewhere in the middle of the year.  She is worth way, way more than that.  Don't ever miss the chance to appreciate her as often as you can right through the year.