Thunder, lightening, and rain, oh my!

     I was sitting here in my recliner about to start my day when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of lightening.  This was followed by a slow rumbling which built to a spectacular crash of thunder and more lightening!  Wow!  God's display of nature is incredible should we like this kind of thing.  It's terrifying for those who don't.  Fear is the factor that determines the difference between awe and pleasure versus scary and uneasy feelings.  My perspective is more along the lines of awe and pleasure.  Love, love, love a good thunder and lightening storm!  The more thunder and lightening, the better.  I could do without the torrential rains though.  It was dark outside when the lightening hit which accentuated the clap of thunder and the flashes of lightening.  Some of my enjoyment was lost when I needed to calm down my dog.  Dogs (and cats I suppose) don't like thunder and lightening.  Our world is filled with things that get our attention.  Thunder and lightening are just two of them.  Wars and rumors of wars are another. 
     There are battles going on around the world even as I am typing this blog.  Some are small skirmishes while others are raging battles with many deaths.  Even those who feel they can be uninvolved are involved whether they like it or not.  The outcome of these battles affects all of us forever.  Nations have risen and fallen by wars since the beginning of time.  They will, according to Revelation, do the same in the future.  At least until the return of Jesus.  Those who believe and have surrendered their lives to Jesus will go to be with Him. Those who have not will be left here for the end times and more wars and death and destruction.  The severity of the end times will be way beyond the thunder and lightening that scares so many.  There will be no end to the storm created by Satan when he fell from heaven with his angels.  The culmination of the war has already been determined and it's not good for many.  Thunder, lightening and rain, oh my!
     The first flash of lightening this morning came and went so quickly that at first I felt maybe I was imagining the lightening.  The thunder following closely behind told me I had seen correctly.  As if putting an exclamation point on the lightening, God put the thunder clap in place to finish the statement.  The signs of the times have been there all along.  In the short life and ministry of Jesus here on earth 600 prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled.  Over the past 2000 years prophecies have continued to be fulfilled.  I'm not talking about things said by some fly by night TV preacher who ends up asking for money.  I'm talking about genuine bonafide fulfillment of prophecies written about centuries before they came true.  Believing that these prophecies will be fulfilled is the hope of believers everywhere.  Yet, we act like they won't come true.  The urgency of the thunder, lightening and rain does not mirror the need for all to hear the Gospel.  The saved don't care about the perishing...just as it was in the days of Jesus' ministry on earth.  We have simply lived a life of "it's not going to happen" so long that we've become unconcerned. 
     This storm this morning will pass.  It will leave embedded in my mind the wonder of God and his creation.  The storm will also be an awakening of some to what power there is in the storm.  What's to be discovered is the power of the peace in the midst of and after the storm.  We all choose what we want in our lives and the lives of those we care about.  I can comfort those who wish to receive comfort.  To those who cling to fear I can only offer comfort.  The same goes with spiritual reality of either accepting or rejecting Jesus.  God has offered.  What have you chosen?