Momentum (Christ – centred, Spirit – empowered, Mission – focused)
Believe it or not, I met Prince Charles—the future King of England—face to face! Agnes and I were married in the same year and the same month as Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Agnes was fascinated with the royal couple, so when she heard that they were coming to Ottawa she convinced me we should go.
We arrived in Ottawa the night before, and very early in the morning we set out to find a place right at the front of the designated walk-about area. I was less than enthusiastic about the whole event but as a faithful husband I pressed on. When the royal couple arrived the crowd surged forward, screaming and cheering. Everybody wanted to see Princess Diana up close so they kept chanting her name.
Agnes even climbed up on the metal barrier and shouted, “Diana, Diana, over here!” I was quite horrified by the whole thing and as I was pulling Agnes off the barrier, the woman next to me fainted. I attempted to help her but then realized why she had collapsed. There, standing right in front of me, was Prince Charles! This was my moment. For that split second I had his undivided attention—but I froze! I was totally unprepared for this opportunity. He spoke to me but when I tried to respond my words became garbled. In a moment he was gone and I stood there in complete disbelief. If only I had been ready!
Are you ready to meet the King of kings?
In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul writes, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever!”
In 2 Peter 3:10-12, Peter writes, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of the Lord and speed its coming.”
Both of these texts remind us that the Second Coming of Jesus will be without warning; therefore we must always be ready. C.S. Lewis declared, “Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments.”
Peter calls us to “look forward” to the day of the Lord. The Greek word for “look forward” is “prosdechomia.” “Pros” means “forward” and “dechomia” means “to wait.” Combined, you get a picture of one “waiting forwardly”—eyes open, sitting on the edge of their seat in radical expectation. Most of us might be okay with waiting, but we don’t wait forwardly. It is more like we have settled down into a La-Z-Boy recliner, no longer filled with expectation.
We have just entered into the season of Advent, the period of preparation and expectation for the coming of Jesus as a baby in a manger. What a great time for a personal wake-up call! Let’s pull ourselves out of recliner mode and move to edge of our seat in expectation of the Second Advent—the coming of Jesus as the Risen Lord of all Creation!
“Some sweet hour our mortal frame
Shall His glorious image wear.
Some sweet hour our worthless name
All His majesty shall share.
Some sweet morn we’ll see His face,
And we shall be satisfied.
Some sweet day in His embrace
We shall evermore abide.” — A.B. Simpson
Please find the original version in C&MA website