The Unforeseen

Amazing!  A meteor struck in Russia on Friday!  The first time in over a hundred years that a massive, exploding meteor has hit the earth. That has not happened in my lifetime, nor in my mother's lifetime. Not since 1908.  My dad would have been 3 years old.

Not only that, but Earth narrowly escaped being hit by an asteroid the day before!  A considerably bigger space rock!  Scientists have known about the asteroid for nearly a year, but the meteor was too small to show up on instruments.  Not too small to injure lots of people and scare them out of their wits, though.  One Russian man said on television, "We thought it was the end of the earth (world)!"

Shades of Chicken Little and "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"  Truthfully, though, space particles fall quite regularly, but most are burned up in the earth's atmosphere.  Others might fall harmlessly into our oceans, which cover about two-thirds of the earth. 

Some people think that a giant asteroid hitting the planet could truly mean the end of the world someday.  Television preacher Pat Robertson and others believe that the mountain referred to in Revelation 8:9 could be a meteor.  It reads, "And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of it became blood."

Verse 10 says, "Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water."  These horrendous events destroyed a third of the earth's vegetation, a third of the sea creatures, and a third of the ships.

Although we may worry about the end of the world, we would do well to give thought to our own lives.  When we die, that is the end of the world for us, and unless we have made Jesus our Savior, there is no hope.

Sunday was an ordinary Sunday at church, until suddenly our pastor's wife had severe pain in her head. Although we gathered around her and prayed for her, the ambulance had to be called and she was taken to the hospital.  Hours later, she was gone.  A day that had begun as just another Sunday to worship the Lord would in less than 24 hours end with our precious sister meeting Him in heaven.  It pays to be ready.  You never know.