Christ has come...  "I wonder how those words make you feel.  Wouldn't it bes interesting to sit in a circle and listen to people's reactions?  if a cluster of us summarized our emotions regarding the return of Christ in one word---what would it be?

Discomfort?  Likely a popular choice.  You've been told your mistakes will be revealed.  You've been told your secrets will be known.  Books will be opened, and names will be read. How could the thought of His return bring you anything but discomfort?  Besides, there are all those phrases---"the mark of the beast", "the Antichrist", and "the battle of Armageddon".  Discomforting, to say the least.

Denial?  Ambiguity is not a pleasant roommate.  We prefer answers and explanations, and the end of time seems short on both.  Consequently, you opt not to think about it.  Why consider what you can't explain?  If he comes, fine.  If not, fine. 

Dissapointment?  This one may surprise you, unless you've felt it; then you'll relate.  Who would feel dissapointed at the thought of Christ's coming?  A mother-to-be might-she wants to hold her baby.  An engaged couple might-they want to be married.  A soldier overseas might-he wants to go home before he goes home. 

This trio is just a sampling of the many emotions stirred by the thought of Christ's return.  I wonder what God would want us to feel. It's not hard to find the answer.  Jesus said it plainly in John 14: "Don't let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust in me...I will come back and take you to be with me" (vv. 1,3).  It's a simple scenario.  The Father has gone away for a while.  But he will return.  And until then, he wants his children to be at peace.

      I want the same for my daughter.  Say I leave her for a night at a friend's house.  I walked out the door and promised to return.  Did I want to leave her?  No.  While we are apart, do I want her to feel discomfort?  Do I want her dreading my return?  Or being dissapointed that I have come back for her?  No. 

        God is away from us...from His family.  He, too, has promised to return.  My daughter doesn't understand why I have to leave her to go to work.  She doesn't understand the intricacies of my task; we don't understand the details of His.  All we can do is trust.  How will our Father feel to know we have been anything but excited and anxious for His return? 

There is but one freedom,

to put oneself right with death.

After that everything is possible.

I cannot force you to believe in God.

Believing in God amounts to

coming to terms with death.

When you have accepted death,

the problem of God will be solved.

                   ~Albert Camus

If the sun and moon should doubt,

they'd immediately go out.

          ~William Blake

Why is it when we talk to God

we are said to be praying,

and when God talks to us

we're said to be schizophrenic?

                 ~Lily Tomlin

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thought.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Speak and act with an impure mind

And trouble will follow you

As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thought.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Speak or act with a pure mind

And happiness will follow you

As your shadow, unshakable.

             ~The Dhammapada

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse.

"It's a thing that happens to you.  When someone loves

you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you,

then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.

"When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,"

he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse.

" You become.  It takes a long time.  That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand...but once you are Real you can't become unreal again.  It lasts for always."

                                                                  ~"The Velveteen Rabbit"

There are four corners on my bed,                    

There are four angels at my head,                    

Matthew, Mark, Luke, andJohn,                        

Bless the bed I sleep upon.                               

               ~A CHILD'S PRAYER                      

It is said, and it is true, that just                      

before we are born an angel                           

puts his finger to our lips and says,                               

"Hush, don't tell what you know."

This is why we are born with a cleft               

on our upper lips and remembering               

nothing of where we came from.                     

          ~RODERICK MACKLEISH               

Coincidence is God's way of                                                                      

performing a miracle anonymously.

                   ~ANONYMOUS

It is very important to pray for

others, because when you pray

for someone, an angel goes and

sits on the shoulder of that person.

                  ~THE VIRGIN MARY

Keep watch, Dear Lord, with those

who work, or watch, or weep this

night, and give your angels charge

over those who sleep.  Tend the sick,

Lord Christ, give rest to the weary,

bless the dying, soothe the suffering,

pity the afflicted, shield the joyous

and all for your love's sake.

                 ~A CHRISTIAN PRAYER

Good thoughts will produce

good actions, and bad thoughts

will produce bad actions. 

Hatred does not cease by hatred

but by love.

                  ~BUDDHA