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Advent devotions 2007

November 30 - Big Changes to Come
By Sheldon Good, a junior communication and business double major from Telford, Pa.

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete scripture.

Devotional:
The weather – it's one of the most common points of everyday conversation. I am obsessed with meteorology and love following my computer's Desktop Weather program, which shows me the day's headlines, what clothes to wear and the 10- day forecast, as well as instant updates on current conditions, approaching storms and severe weather warnings. Today’s top headline: "Big Changes To Come."

Winter is upon us here in Northern Indiana, as the cold air is advancing rapidly and the clouds are settling in for the next five months. I smell the fall foliage in the 45 mile-per-hour winds that I was alerted about care of Desktop Weather's automated alarm system, which warned me that there is a wind advisory for Goshen until midnight. I am constantly in balance with what is outside my window and what my laptop tells me is to come.

A similar juxtaposition of the present and the future is evident in Jesus' Olivet discourse. As the people of Jesus' day prepared for impending wars, rising of nations and natural disasters, Jesus foreshadowed that "the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." It seems inconsequential to compare something as trivial as the weather with the unpredictability of Jesus' presence among us. Yet in both cases, we seek comfort, confidence and cheerfulness, as the winds of the spirit move among us.

Get ready. Our Lord is coming again. May we be eager to embrace the future as we move into a new season. How might we prepare ours lives and our souls this Advent, for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ?

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44 (NRSV)
'But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Posted at 19:54 #