Are you ready?

The phone rang at 10:24PM.

I looked up at Gail and she said, "It's kind of late for a phone call", knowing that when the phone rings that late in a pastor's house it isn't going to be a lunch invitation. She was right.

"He's been taken to the hospital and his wife has asked that you be there." The prognosis was not good.

We were simply acquaintances, although his wife and mother-in-law are family of close friends. In fact, he was my son's Little League coach 22 years ago. I had only seen him a couple of times at the most in those two-plus decades. But I was asked to come right away, and being a believer in Divine appointments, I put on my shoes, brushed my teeth, and headed down the road.

While I'm no physician, I've been around the block a time or two in the hospital and ER in my pastoral experience. As I stood just inside the curtain that separated the room from the doctors and nurses station, it only took a second to know this would likely be my last chance to see him.

He was conscious and alert, and through the mask that covered most of his face, giving him oxygen as he labored for every breath I could see his eyes widen as he saw me. I took it as a sign that he was glad to have me there. At least three medical professionals were tending to him, working on needles, bags and such. So I stayed near the foot of the bed and gave a simple wave.

This was not a good time to try and get close enough to talk, so I left for the waiting room.

My third trip back to see him found him hooked up to everything imaginable. Only one nurse was there, punching things into a computer. So I walked up to the side of his bed, took his hand and said what needed to be said. His wife stood beside me.

"I'm not going to tell you what you don't already know. You don't have a lot of time left on this earth." He was looking directly into my eyes as he continued to struggle for each shallow breath. A slight nod told me he knew it, too. "I need to ask you...are you ready? Do you know Jesus is your Savior?"

The next nod wasn't so slight. It was deliberate.

"Knowing that will give you the peace you'll need through this night, and it will bring great peace to your family."

I prayed with him that God would help him through the night; that he might get some rest; that the Lord would bring comfort and strength to his family.

He was transported by helicopter to a hospital 80 miles away where he could be in an ICU. Today, after his wife, children, mother and sister said theirs goodbyes, he was taken off the ventilator and in a few minutes slipped into eternity.

He was ready.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life."

One day all of us will have a similar experience. Perhaps it will be dragged out for days or weeks. Perhaps it will happen in an instant and be totally unexpected. But we will all face our mortality.

Ready or not.

In My Seat - The Pilot Who Got Bumped from Flight 11

What a powerful, gripping story. Watch it to the end. It's 15.5 minutes.

Camping's New Spin: Saturday was a "Spiritual Judgment"

Deluded Harold Camping, a man who thinks He's out-smarted Jesus by determining the date of the "rapture", has come up with the reason why he miscalculated. Again.

Don't forget that this same man predicted a rapture to happen in 1994. When it didn't happen, he used the same excuse..."I miscalculated".

Now, he claims that the May 21 apparent "non-event" was actually God's day of "spiritual judgment" on the earth. "Spiritual", of course, meaning, "something we could not see". The rapture, he tells us, will come on October 21, the day he earlier predicted as the day the earth would be consumed by a fire ball.

You know, he could be right. October 21 might be the day the trumpet sounds and those in Christ are called up to meet Him in the air. Or, it could be today, or tomorrow or any day, for that matter. We don't (and can't) know, said Jesus.

But Camping's reason for Saturday's confusion - a "spiritual judgment" - belies his poor grasp at best of what is called in theological terms "soteriology": the doctrine of salvation. Orthodox Christianity teaches that the sins of mankind were judged in Christ as He hung on the cross. That judgment ushered in a period of God's grace wherein any man or woman can by faith accept Christ's salvation and have his or her sin forgiven. And that time of grace will continue until Christ appears in His second advent.

Now, if Jesus didn't return Saturday, that means we still live in this gracious time when "whosoever will" may receive God's forgiveness and know that their sins were judged in Him and paid for by His death. If, as Camping would have us believe, God spiritually judged all on earth who have not received Christ, then there is no more option of salvation for anyone.

So, not only has Camping stepped out on a limb, he has cut it off behind him. No one who believes in historic Christianity will accept his view. Long ago he cast off any submission to a local church. Now he has ventured further off the straight path and has moved into the cultic arena of heresy.

Sadly, people will choose to believe him. But happily, there still remains God's grace for the Gospel of Jesus to give new and everlasting life to all who will by faith trust in Him.

That's the message we need to share.

The Countdown has Begun

Last night we had a Kick Off Rally coupled with a chili cook-off that was a lot of fun. In the rally we were challenged by Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life to seek God's purposes of fellowship, worship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism in our lives.

Today I'll bring a message asking 3 Big Questions we all need to be asking before we dive in to the 40 days of committing to a daily devotion and time of prayer; connecting with a small group; memorizing Scripture and regularly attending church:

• What does God want from my life?


• What does it take?


• Why should I do it?

Then tomorrow we actually begin Day One.

Nags Head Church first did 40 Days of Purpose 5 years ago, and it triggered a renewal in the life of our congregation that God used to launch us to greater things than we had ever seen before as a church. So we're looking forward to a second time; especially since in the last 5 years so many more have hooked up with us.

God willing, this is going to be a great 6 weeks with eternal results.