Jesus is Coming Back – Yes, REALLY!

One of my earliest memories takes me back to the small dairy farm where I grew up. I was probably about four or five at the time. It was a sunny warm summer day, and I was trying to keep up with the long strides of my father as he went to the pasture to bring back the cows for evening milking. At that time in my life I followed him everywhere and pummeled him with questions constantly. He was pretty patient with me, but, as I remember it, he did frequently say, “Doreen, why don’t you go in the house and help your mother?” I would whine, “But I want to help YOU!”

This time, however, he did not try to shake me off. I was skipping about happily looking to the soft blue afternoon sky and asking, “When is Jesus coming back? What is it going to be like? I can’t wait! Is He coming soon?” These conversations were never rejected. He would talk to me about Jesus any time I wanted. He never turned me away. This was a precious time of a child’s desire to know Jesus, and a longsuffering daddy’s love. My Dad would smile and say, “I don’t know when, but I know it will be soon.” And he would describe to me what the Bible said about that wonderful day when loved ones would be raised from the dead and we would all go to meet Him together in the air. Doctrine was simple then. Just the facts: He is coming soon because He said He would.

Throughout my life, this theme has not been far from my core. I was brought up in a church that preached the Second Coming faithfully. My husband and I have ministered the truth of this Blessed Hope over the years. Now, about 65 years since that frolic in the grassy fields of Maine, we are proclaiming the truth of that promise now more than ever. My father didn’t live to see the occasion like he thought he would, but he will surely be there!  We are currently in a world of turmoil, wars, uprisings, riots, political intrigue, deception, and evil beyond comprehension. Sound familiar? Read Matthew 24. We are closer than ever. We need to be watching….

But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. Revelation 2:4 and 5 NLT

I remember one morning when I was a teen sitting at the breakfast table. My Mom was telling us about a dream she had the night before. She dreamed that the sky rolled back like a scroll and Jesus appeared. She saw me running around, quite beside myself, as that five year old child, wearing a red plaid dress she had made me….

I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17 NLT

This convicts me. I can be so distracted by the cares and “shiny” things of this world. We all become “grown-ups”.

One of the beauties of getting older is remembering the value in the simple things. This, I believe, is the “wisdom of age”: becoming childlike in faith and love for our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus….