We are counting down the hours to boarding the plane that will take us to Ethiopia for our reunion with Chernet, Mulu and Ruby. The day and time will be Saturday, March 12th, 3:08 p.m.. Matthew 24:36 says, "But of that day and hour (Christ's return to earth), no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." I. Corinthians 1:7-8 says we are to be "waiting eagerly (for) the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." I have never been so eager for something to happen as I have been for the completion of our adoption processes. I have to confess though, that I have never felt that same kind of longing for Christ's return. I want that to change. My hope and prayer is that God will place in me an eager expectation for His coming to take us to our eternal home that will be as strong as the longing we have of welcoming these three children into our earthly home. Consider these messages from His word:
Philippians 2:9-15 "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved,... work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you , both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and inocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I (Paul) will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain."
I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."
I Thessalonians 5:23-24 "Now may the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass."
Matthew 25:31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne."
I Thessalonians 4:17-18 "Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."
My hope is that you may be comforted with these words as together we learn to wait eagerly for the return of Christ.
