Refinding our LOVEly purpose in life

    The Rapture was proposed to happen today at 6:00 PM.
    Obviously, it didn't.
    Honestly, though the jibes about it, such as, "Either the Rapture wasn't set for today, or everyone in New Zealand is a heathen." are kind of funny. In fact, some of them are very funny, but I don't think that it's very Christianly of people to poke fun at this guy. Of course, it wasn't very Christianly of that guy to think that he knows more than Jesus did. But making fun of other people's beliefs has never been one of my favorite pastimes.
    Although he was incorrect about the time of our Lord's coming, (where does the Bible say 'the Rapture' anyway?) I appreciate his prediction. Confused? He was wrong, but there was, and always is, the possibility that Jesus will return right....now. It doesn't happen, so often times we forget that it ever will come about and begin to assume that we have become masters of time. This is not true, and I am glad that I have been reawakened to the fact, in a very elephant-in-the-roomish type of way, that we are not in control of our destinies.
    What, then, do we do? Since the world is going to be renewed at any moment, why do we put any effort into living? Why don't we, like the ones who were expecting Jesus to come again at 6 PM, May 21, 2011, stop the mail, quit our jobs, say our last goodbyes and sit and wait?
    Because we were made for NOW. There's no disputing that earth right now isn't so much like heaven-we think that more of the time it's like hell. But God gave us life for a reason; He wanted us to become who he created us to be-creatures in love with him-by our own will. He created us so we could spread his love to whoever we encounter. PEOPLE are what we're here for. Many of us wouldn't mind just stopping everything going on to hang out with God. But that's not what we were made to do down here. Right now, we need to take the love we have found in Jesus to everyone possible for us to reach. There are so many that need to be loved: the wonderful people I've met that are homeless, the ones who are looking down in the line to check out at Wal-Mart, our friends, our enemies, the children running around our backyards. We love them all, so that when the time comes for our Lord to redeem the world completely and forever, we will have so many of our brothers and sisters surrounding us, worshiping the Lord, as far as the eye can see! Won't it be beautiful?