Everything You Need to Know about the End of Time

Today I told our congregation that I could tell them everything we need to know about the end of time in five words. (Kept them in suspense about the specific five words until the very end. Occupational hazard. Preachers and politicians have the same affliction - We take twenty minutes to say what could be said in five minutes.)

So here's what I told them. (SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know what you need to know about the end of it all, log off now.) Here's everything you need to know about the end times in five words: JESUS WINS IN THE END.

Now, I admit that I thought this was pretty spot-on, but some other folks came up with five word formulas that were right on the money! Here they are, with credit given - everything we need to hear about believe about the end of time:

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT! (Mark Deane)

IT'S NOT UP TO US! (Mike Marsh)

BEST DAY OF OUR LIVES! (Danny Kuykendall)

This is great. I'm sure there are others. What's your five word summation of the end from a faith perspective? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Preferential Treatment

Though I had a happy childhood, I was a shy child. In addition, I did not come from a prominent family, nor did I live in an upscale neighborhood. I became very cognizant of those around me who received preferential treatment. I noticed the ones who went to the front of the line, who got the most attention from teachers and coaches, who were picked first for anything, or who received the the inside track on almost anything. At an early age I came to accept the truth that I would have to work doubly hard to warrant preferential treatment, as it would not come to me naturally. In many facets of my life, preferential treatments stayed and remains elusive. In some arenas of my existence, I have eked out preferential status, if only for a time. Oddly, though, I can't say that I've enjoyed it when I've achieved it. Attaining preferential treatment just seems to accentuate all the more those who are denied it. That's been frustrating, as life has tended to teach me that preferential treatment measures value and success.

Compounding the irony is that I have surrendered my existence to a very odd individual, who claims that the opposite of preferential treatment is not only what I should seek, but the very identity for which I was designed. This person is one who called his followers to actively seek the non-privileged positions in life, and demonstrated this by giving up his unity with God to become human, to take the form of a slave, and to be obedient even to submitting to a criminal's death.

The exact opposite of the path that has been dangled before me since childhood...I'll see you around the next bend in the river.